Bushwalk or Wilderness quotes from literature

[Son of a Beach]

Has anyone come across any good quotes from literature that are related to wilderness or bushwalking? Particularly from the classics* (but any good literature, really)?

A few decades ago, I read 'King Solomons Mines' and a few years ago I read 'She' and then a few days ago I finished 'Allan Quartermaine', all by H Rider Haggard. They're all good books, even if they do repeat not only some themes, but some plot points. I found a couple of relevant quotes in 'Allan Quartermaine', which I will post below.

Do you have any good ones? Please add them here. I'm curious to see what good authors have to say.

Although Greg French's 'Wild Heart of Tasmania' has plenty, of course, it is a book all about wilderness issues, so it doesn't really count, so I won't mention his quote of...

a win is temporary, but a loss is forever

It's also not a classic... yet.

*'Classics' to me just means anything older than I am, but I know that's not a good definition

Last edited by Son of a Beach on Thu 28 Mar, 2024 10:46 am, edited 3 times in total.

[Son of a Beach]

‘Adventurer’ - he who goes out to meet whatever may come. Well, that is what we all do in the world one way or another, and, speaking for myself, I am proud of the title, because it implies a brave heart and a trust in Providence.

Last edited by Son of a Beach on Thu 28 Mar, 2024 10:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Son of a Beach]

I do love a good tree.

There it stands so strong and sturdy, and yet so beautiful, a very type of the best sort of man. How proudly it lifts its bare head to the winter storms, and with what a full heart it rejoices when the spring has come again! How grand its voice is, too, when it talks with the wind: a thousand aolian harps cannot equal the beauty of the sighing of a great tree in leaf. All day it points to the sunshine and all night to the stars, and thus passionless, and yet full of life, it endures through the centuries, come storm, come shine, drawing its sustenance from the cool bosom of its mother earth, and as the slow years roll by, learning the great mysteries of growth and of decay. And so on and on through generations, outliving individuals, customs, dynasties - all save the landscape it adorns and human nature - till the appointed day when the wind wins the long battle and rejoices over a reclaimed space, or decay puts the last stroke to his fungus-fingered work.

Ah, one should always think twice before one cuts down a tree!

[tastrax]

John Muir has quite a few quotes re wilderness

https://www.azquotes.com/author/10523-John_Muir

[Son of a Beach]

John Muir has quite a few quotes re wilderness

https://www.azquotes.com/author/10523-John_Muir

There are some great ones. I love that first one:

I’d rather be in the mountains thinking of God, than in church thinking about the mountains.

[north-north-west]

A line I first came across in a Readers' Digest more than three quarters of a life back, not sure of the author because I've never been able to trace it (memory insists it was either R.L. Stevenson or Mark Twain, but memory is not necessarily reliable):
"Walking isn't a way of going somewhere, it's a way of being somewhere."

Neither FGoogle nor any other search engine has beenn able to help, so there's a big reward to anyone who can give a definitive answer about provenance.

[bernieq]

Maybe mis-remembered? "Walking is a way of being somewhere, rather than striving to arrive." ~ John Hillaby

[north-north-west]

It may have been misquoted when printed, but the line as read has stuck with me. Never heard of Hillaby.