Quote

Handle a book as a bee does a flower, extract its sweetness but do not damage it.

John Muir

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John Muir
Age: 76 †
Born: 1838
Born: April 21
Died: 1914
Died: December 24
Author
Autobiographer
Botanist
Conservationist
Ecologist
Engineer
Essayist
Explorer
Geologist
Glaciologist
Inventor
Mountaineer
Naturalist
J. Muir
Book
Extract
Bees
Sweetness
Damage
Handle
Flower
Doe

More quotes by John Muir

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The bat­tle we have fought, and are still fight­ing for the forests is a part of the eter­nal con­flict between right and wrong, and we can­not expect to see the end of it. …So we must count on watch­ing and striv­ing for these trees, and should always be glad to find any­thing so surely good and noble to strive for.
John Muir
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Government protection should be thrown around every wild grove and forest on the mountains, as it is around every private orchard, and the trees in public parks. To say nothing of their value as fountains of timber, they are worth infinitely more than all the gardens and parks of towns.
John Muir
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I like to walk, touch living Mother Earth—bare feet best, and thrill every step. Used to envy happy reptiles that had advantage of so much body in contact with earth, bosom to bosom. [We] live with our heels as well as head and most of our pleasure comes in that way.
John Muir
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No wonder the hills and groves were God's first temples, and the more they are cut down and hewn into cathedrals and churches, the farther off and dimmer seems the Lord himself.
John Muir
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Trees go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!
John Muir
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I will follow my instincts, be myself for good or ill, and see what will be the upshot.
John Muir
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In the eternal youth of Nature, you may renew your own.
John Muir
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At the touch of this divine light, the mountains seemed to kindle to a rapt, religious consciousness, and stood hushed like devout worshippers waiting to be blessed.
John Muir
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But to gain a perfect view, one must go yet further, over a curving brow to a slight shelf on the extreme brink.
John Muir
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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
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Going to the mountains is going home.
John Muir
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None of Nature's landscapes are ugly so long as they are wild.
John Muir
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One day's exposure to mountains is better than a cartload of books.
John Muir
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Who publishes the sheet-music of the winds or the music of water written in river-lines?
John Muir
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He had gone to the higher Sierras... [about Ralph Waldo Emerson's death]
John Muir
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A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease.
John Muir
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The moon is looking down into the canyon, and how marvelously the great rocks kindle to her light! Every dome, and brow, and swelling boss touched by her white rays, glows as if lighted with snow.
John Muir
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Wherever we go in the mountains, we find more than we seek.
John Muir
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The grand show is eternal It is always sunrise somewhere
John Muir
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The mountains are fountains not only of rivers and fertile soil, but of men.
John Muir