American - Environmentalist | April 21, 1838 - December 24, 1914
From the dust of the earth, from the common elementary fund, the Creator has made Homo sapiens. From the same material he has made every other creature, however noxious and insignificant to us. They are earth-born companions and our fellow mortals.
John Muir
EarthSameDustCreatorUsCommon
Of all the mountain ranges I have climbed, I like the Sierra Nevada the best.
BestMountainLikeNevadaSierra
The world, we are told, was made especially for man - a presumption not supported by all the facts. A numerous class of men are painfully astonished whenever they find anything, living or dead, in all God's universe, which they cannot eat or render in some way what they call useful to themselves.
GodMenManWorldFactsUniverse
The dispersal of juniper seeds is effected by the plum and cherry plan of hiring birds at the cost of their board, and thus obtaining the use of a pair of extra good wings.
GoodSeedsBirdsPlanWingsCherry
Every other civilized nation in the world has been compelled to care for its forests, and so must we if waste and destruction are not to go on to the bitter end, leaving America as barren as Palestine or Spain.
WorldCareEndAmericaGoLeaving
It is easier to feel than to realize, or in any way explain, Yosemite grandeur. The magnitudes of the rocks and trees and streams are so delicately harmonized, they are mostly hidden.
TreesFeelRocksWayHiddenRealize
The making of the far-famed New York Central Park was opposed by even good men, with misguided pluck, perseverance, and ingenuity, but straight right won its way, and now that park is appreciated. So we confidently believe it will be with our great national parks and forest reservations.
PerseveranceGoodGreatMenNew York
I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do.
NatureTreeTravelFastNeverSaw
The forests of America, however slighted by man, must have been a great delight to God; for they were the best he ever planted. The whole continent was a garden, and from the beginning, it seemed to be favored above all the other wild parks and gardens of the globe.
GodGreatBestBeginningManGarden
During my first years in the Sierra, I was ever calling on everybody within reach to admire them, but I found no one half warm enough until Emerson came. I had read his essays, and felt sure that of all men he would best interpret the sayings of these noble mountains and trees. Nor was my faith weakened when I met him in Yosemite.
FaithBestMenMountainsTreesWarm
I have heard of Texas pioneers living without bread or anything made from the cereals for months without suffering, using the breast-meat of wild turkeys for bread. Of this kind, they had plenty in the good old days when life, though considered less safe, was fussed over the less.
LifeGoodSufferingTexasLiving
The gross heathenism of civilization has generally destroyed nature, and poetry, and all that is spiritual.
NatureSpiritualPoetryCivilization
Copyright © 2024 QuotesDict John Muir quotes