Climbing a mountain is often considered the ultimate adventure and an epic challenge. Therefore, it is no surprise that there are many mountain quotes that talk about the race to the summit, the views, and the struggles along the way.
Quotes about mountains are a great way to express the sense of adventure we often encounter while traveling, but they also reflect life with all its ups and downs. They can inspire us and allow us to reflect on life.
There is something about mountain quotes that resonates within us. They motivate us to push for more than we considered possible so we can see that scenic view from the summit or to keep going when life feels like an uphill hike to the summit of Everest (or even just the Everest Base Camp).
These are the best mountain quotes by famous mountaineers, adventurers, and all those that want to see what lies on the other side of the mountain range.
Inspiring Mountain Quotes
Mountain quotes tend to be some of the most inspiring quotes out there, as the challenge of climbing to the summit is a perfect mirror of the struggles we encounter in different situations. And just like the view at the end of the hike, overcoming struggles is the reward. These are the best inspiring mountain quotes:
1. “It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” – Sir Edmund Hillary
2. “Life is about daring to carry out your ideas. And for me, it always comes back to the wilderness, nature, mountains.” – Reinhold Messner
3. “Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in an office or mowing the lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” – Jack Kerouac
4. “You have to conquer every obstacle before you can reach the top of the mountain.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
5. “Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.” – Barry Finlay
6. “The experienced mountain climber is not intimidated by a mountain – he is inspired by it. The persistent winner is not discouraged by a problem–he is challenged by it. Mountains are created to be conquered; adversities are designed to be defeated; problems are sent to be solved. It is better to master one mountain than a thousand foothills.” – William Arthur Ward
7. “Everybody wants to reach the peak, but there is no growth on the top of a mountain. It is in the valley that we slog through the lush grass and rich soil, learning and becoming what enables us to summit life’s next peak.” – Andy Andrews
8. “People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.” – Edmund Hillary
9. “May your dreams be larger than mountains and may you have the courage to scale their summits.” – Harley King
Short Mountain Quotes
There is a lot to be said about mountains, but sometimes these short mountain quotes are enough to convey an inspirational message. I recently watched ‘14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible’, so of course, I also had to include some mountain quotes by Nims Purja, the man who summited all 14 eight-thousanders in 6 months and 6 days.
10. “A tourist follows a trail; a mountaineer finds one.” – Reinhold Messner
11. “Going to the mountains is like going home.” – John Muir
12. “I climb so I can live every moment of my life.” – Nirmal “Nims” Purja
13. “Because it’s there.” – George Mallory
14. “Each fresh peak ascended teaches something.” – Sir Martin Conway
15. “How wild it was, to let it be.” – Cheryl Strayed
16. “Sometimes, you just need to change your altitude.” – Unknown
17. “Mountains are where heaven meets earth.” – Anita Diament
18. “The best view comes after the hardest climb.” – Unknown
19. “You can’t conquer a mountain, though it may conquer you.” – Jimmy Chin
20. “The mountains themselves call us into greater stories.” – Donald Miller
21. “When preparing to climb a mountain, pack a light heart.” – Dan May
22. “All good things are wild and free.” – Unknown
23. “Mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery.” – John Ruskin
24. “I like being near the top of a mountain. One can’t get lost here.” – Wislawa Szymborska
25. “Mountains are the beginning and end of all natural scenery.” – John Ruskin
26. “I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery.” – Sylvia Plath
27. “Each fresh peak ascended teaches something.” – Sir Martin Conway
28. “Man can climb to the highest summits, but he cannot dwell there long.” – George Bernard Shaw
29. “The top of one mountain is always the bottom of another.” – Marianne Williamson
30. “The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters.” – Conrad Anker
31. “Mountains define you. You cannot define them.” – May Sarton
32. “Wherever we go in the mountains, we find more than we seek.” – John Muir
33. “Mountains are earth’s undecaying monuments.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne
34. “Great things are done when men and mountains meet.” – William Blake
35. “The pure, dry mountain air is the elixir of life.” – Isabella Bird
36. “You are not in the mountains. The mountains are in you.” – John Muir
37. “Mountains don’t kill people, they just sit there.” – Ed Viesturs
38. “Life’s a bit like mountaineering – never look down.” – Edmund Hillary
39. “Happiness is not at the top of the mountains but in how to climb it.” – Unknown
Mountain Climbing Quotes
Climbing in the mountains is both the ultimate challenge and a potentially deadly endeavor. While it is amazing to tackle a cliff, these mountain climbing quotes capture both the triumph upon reaching the summit and the danger that accompanies you as you push the limits.
40. “There are two kinds of climbers, those who climb because their heart sings when they’re in the mountains, and all the rest.” – Alex Lowe
41. “Climbing is all about freedom, the freedom to go beyond all the rules and take a chance, to experience something new, to gain insight into human nature.” – Reinhold Messner
42. “Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.” – Greg Child
43. “The art of climbing is to go where you go knowing that you could die, but you don’t die. That is adventure.” – Reinhold Messner
44. “In the mountains, there are only two grades: You can either do it, or you can’t.” – Rusty Baille
45. “Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” – Ed Viestur
46. “There is no joy involved in climbing mountains, there is simply the challenge, the self-invented challenge, the play.” – Reinhold Messner
47. “Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nought without prudence and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end.” – Edward Whymper
48. “Those personal values, which we gain from our approach to the mountains, are great enough to enrich our life. Is not the irrationality of its very lack of purpose the deepest argument for climbing?” – Heinrich Harrer
49. “Getting to the top of any given mountain was considered much less important than how one got there: prestige was earned by tackling the most unforgiving routes with minimal equipment, in the boldest style imaginable.” – Jon Krakauer
50. “In the mountains, you are sometimes invited, sometimes tolerated, and sometimes told to go home.” – Fred Beckey
51. “In mountaineering, those who think that it is a terrible tragedy to fail when close to the top and come back are people who are so naive as to be completely unaware of those who reached the top and never came back! Sometimes the best way to reach a goal is to give up on that goal for a while!” – Mehmet Murat ildan
Mountain Quotes by Famous Mountaineers
There are a lot of inspiring and thought-provoking mountain quotes by legends of mountaineering, so it is only fitting to highlight what these accomplished mountaineers have to say about their adventures to the summit of the world’s highest peaks.
52. “Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.” – Hermann Buhl
53. “The mountain decides whether you climb or not. The art of mountaineering is knowing when to go, when to stay, and when to retreat.” – Ed Viesturs
54. “Despite all I have seen and experienced, I still get the same simple thrill out of glimpsing a tiny patch of snow in a high mountain gully and feel the same urge to climb towards it.” – Edmund Hillary
55. “I go to the wild mountains where I am responsible for myself. Step by step I am making sure that I don’t die.” – Reinhold Messner
56. “In such a concentrated situation, climbing and meditation is the same. When the pain is really forcing you to go down, you keep going up. You are really on the edge of possibilities. The edge of life and death.” – Nirmal “Nims” Purja
57. “People ask me, ‘What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?’ and my answer must at once be, ‘It is of no use’. There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behaviour of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron…
If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to live. That is what life means and what life is for.” – George Mallory
58. “The mountain doesn’t say you are black, you are white, you are weak, you are strong. It’s one rule for everybody. If you give up, you die.” – Nirmal “Nims” Purja
The Mountains are calling Quotes
Sometimes, we hear the call of nature that lures us into the great unknown with promises of adventures. These mountain quotes capture that call!
59. “The mountains are calling and I must go.” – John Muir
60. “It is the mountain that has been calling me, and it’s time to answer.” – Susan Jagannath
61. “The mountains whisper for me to wander; my soul hikes to the call.” – Angie Weiland-Crosby
62. “Although I deeply love oceans, deserts, and other wild landscapes, it is only mountains that beckon me with that sort of painful magnetic pull to walk deeper and deeper into their beauty.” – Victoria Erikson
63. “What draws us from the low valleys to the high mountains is that noble stance of the summits!” – Mehmet Murat ildan
Mountain View Quotes
While hiking or climbing themselves are great and amazing activities, it is the views along the way and from the top that reward us as we explore the mountains. I love how these mountain view quotes describe it.
64. “Stop staring at mountains. Climb them instead, yes, it’s a harder process but it will lead you to a better view.” – Unknown
65. “I take all day to climb mountains and then spend about 10 minutes at the top admiring the view.” – Sebastian Thrun
66. “I love to sit on a mountain top and gaze. I don’t think of anything but the people I care about and the view.” – Julian Lennon
67. “The climb speaks to our character, but the view, I think, to our souls.” – Lori Lansens
68. “Always be thankful for the little things even the smallest mountains can hide the most breathtaking views.” – Nyki Mack
69. “Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.” – David McCullough Jr.
70. Gazing out from the mountains, the clouds are whiter, the sky is bluer, the air seeping into your lungs is as clear as the water roaring down from the snow, melting on the high peaks. A place where heaven is a little closer. – Virginia Alison
71. “May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” – Edward Abbey
72. “You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen.” – Rene Daumal
Adventurous Mountain Quotes
Sometimes all we need to be happy is to overcome a challenge we set for ourselves and an amazing view after a strenuous climb. We need an adventure that allows us to reconnect with nature. These inspirational mountain quotes capture this adventurous spirit.
73. “Want to do your mind and body a favour? Take your backpack and go to the mountains! Want to do yourself a bigger favour? Go to the mountains and stay there for a couple of days!” – Mehmet Murat ildan
74. “Personally, I don’t just climb mountains for the breathtaking view or the glory. I take that risk, so I can live every moment of my life.” – Nirmal “Nims” Purja
75. “There’s a world out there, and you’ve got to look at both sides of the mountain in your lifetime.” – Bill Janklow
76. “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.” – John Muir
77. “You need mountains, long staircases don’t make good hikers.” – Amit Kalantri
This mountain quote always makes me think of the hike to Preikestolen in Norway and the fact that they added an unnecessary cement staircase that definitely made the hike less interesting. After all, it is the challenges that make hiking and climbing in the mountains so interesting, and that turn it into an adventure.
78. “We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us.” – John Muir
79. “On the summit, your soul becomes the part of the mountain. It makes you feel alive.” – Nirmal “Nims” Purja
80. “Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain but all the happiness and growth occurs when you’re climbing it.” – Andy Rooney
81. “But the objective, the people ask, the meaning, the goal? There is no meaning, there is no goal. Mountaineering is as meaningless as life itself – and thus its magic will never die. ”– Peter Wessel Zapffe
82. “The greatest gift of life on the mountain is time. Time to think or not think, read or not read, scribble or not scribble — to sleep and cook and walk in the woods, to sit and stare at the shapes of the hills. I produce nothing but words; I consumer nothing but food, a little propane, a little firewood. By being utterly useless in the calculations of the culture at large I become useful, at last, to myself.” – Philip Connors
83. “If adventure has a final and all-embracing motive, it is surely this: we go out because it is our nature to go out, to climb mountains, and to paddle rivers, to fly to the planets and plunge into the depths of the oceans… When man ceases to do these things, he is no longer man.” – Wilfrid Noyce
Thought-Provoking Mountain Captions
There are many reasons to “climb that goddamn mountain” and these quotes about mountains will make you think about said reasons and other challenges in life.
84. “Never measure the height of a mountain until you reach the top. Then you will see how low it was.” – Dag Hammerskjold
85. “The mountains have rules. They are harsh rules, but they are there, and if you keep to them you are safe. A mountain is not like men. A mountain is sincere. The weapons to conquer it exist inside you, inside your soul.” – Walter Bonatti
86. “Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain.” – Edmund Hillary
87. “There’s no glory in climbing a mountain if all you want to do is to get to the top. It’s experiencing the climb itself – in all its moments of revelation, heartbreak, and fatigue – that has to be the goal.” – Karyn Kusama
88. “The farthest mountain is the one you think you can never reach and it may even be just by the side of you!” – Mehmet Murat ildan
89. “Within alpinism’s narrow framework we seek transcendence and relentlessly pursue what remains hidden from us on flat ground: our true selves.” – Steve House
90 . “When you stand at the bottom of the mountain and look up at the mountaintop, the path looks hard and stony, and the top is obscured by clouds. But when you reach the top and you look down, you realize that there are a thousand paths that could have brought you to that place.” – Roz Savage
91. “Mountains are only a problem when they are bigger than you. You should develop yourself so much that you become bigger than the mountains you face.” – Idowu Koyenikan
92. “A lone peak of high point is a natural focal point in the landscape, something by which both travelers and local orient themselves. In the continuum of landscape, mountains are discontinuity — culminating in high points, natural barriers, unearthly earth.” – Rebecca Solnit
93. “You think more about the mountain you climbed when you are at the foothills, not when you are at the top! What you think at the top is the things you left below!” – Mehmet Murat ildan
Mountain Quotes for Instagram
Do you have a great photo of your last hike and want to post it, but are not sure how to caption it? Use one of these inspirational mountain quotes for Instagram.
94. “A mountaintop is not simply an elevation, but an island, a world within a world, a place out of place.” – Paul Gruchow
95. “When you are in the mountains, you find out who you really are.” – Nirmal “Nims” Purja
96. “Life sucks a lot less when you add mountain air, a campfire and some peace and quiet.” – Brooke Hampton
97. “The higher you climb on the mountain, the harder the wind blows.” – Sam Cummings
98. “Mountains teach that not everything in this world can be rationally explained.” – Aleksander Lwow
99. “Great things are done when men and mountains meet; This is not done by jostling in the street.” – William Blake
100. “I don’t want to write about climbing or talk about it or photograph it or think about it; all I want to do is do it.” – Chuck Pratt
101. “Nature is one of the most underutilized treasures in life. It has the power to unburden hearts and reconnect to that inner place of peace.” – Janice Anderson
102. “Nothing lives long, Only the earth and mountains.” – Dee Brown
103. “The cliche is that life is a mountain. You go up, reach the top and then go down.” – Jeanne Moreau
104. “Throw me to the mountains, I’ll be at peace as long as I will live.” – Shashank Rayal
105. “Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more that what we could learn from books.” – John Lubbock
106. “The choices we make lead up to actual experiences. It is one thing to decide to climb a mountain. It is quite another to be on top of it.” – Herbert A. Simon
107. “Those who travel to mountain-tops are half in love with themselves, and half in love with oblivion.” – Robert Macfarlane
108. “The most dangerous thing you can do in life is play it safe.” – Casey Neistat
109. “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.” – John Muir
110. “No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied – it speaks in silence to the very core of your being.” – Ansel Adams
Literary Mountain Quotes
You do not have to be a famous adventurer to think of great mountain quotes, so are are some amazing quotes by writers:
111. The mountains were his masters. They rimmed in life. They were the cup of reality, beyond growth, beyond struggle and death. They were his absolute unity in the midst of eternal change.” – Thomas Wolfe
112. “You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so… get on your way!” – Dr. Seuss
113. “Mountains know the secrets we need to learn. That it might take time, it might be hard, but if you just hold on long enough, you will find the strength to rise up.” – Tyler Knott Gregson
114. “It was the work of the quiet mountains, this torrent of purity at my feet.” – Jack Kerouac
115. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” – T. S. Eliot
116. “He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies, real or imaginary.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
117. “Over every mountain, there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.” – Theodore Roethke
118. “The way up to the top of the mountain is always longer than you think. Don’t fool yourself, the moment will arrive when what seemed so near is still very far.” – Paulo Coelho
119. “Without mountains, we might find ourselves relieved that we can avoid the pain of the ascent, but we will forever miss the thrill of the summit. And in such a terribly scandalous trade-off, it is the absence of pain that becomes the thief of life.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough
120. “If you are faced with a mountain, you have several options. You can climb it and cross to the other side. You can go around it. You can dig under it. You can fly over it. You can blow it up. You can ignore it and pretend it’s not there. You can turn around and go back the way you came. Or you can stay on the mountain and make it your home.” – Vera Nazarian
121. “Mountains slowly change, but they will always be there, defining Freedom.” – Foster Kinn
Roundup: Mountain Quotes
I personally love mountain quotes, and not just because I love hiking and climbing. I think they are inspiring and a great motivation. And in addition to that, they also teach you some good life lessons.
More Quotes
If you like these mountain quotes, you might also like these quotes:
Scuba Diving Quotes
Hiking Quotes
Which one of these MOuntain Quotes is Your Favorite?
Let me know in the comments down below!
Love these MOuntain Quotes?
Pin them to share them!
