Mountain Climbing Quotes: 56 Incredible Quotes for Your Next Summit

Climbing a mountain is an understandably poetic experience. Climbers and writers have written and said many inspirational things while spending time hiking and climbing in the hills. In this article, I’ve put together fifty-six of my favorite mountain climbing quotes. Whether you want to use them for social media, motivation, or something else, I hope they’ll provide a spark of mountain motivation for your next adventure in the mountains! I start with my fourteen favorite mountain climbing quotes overall. I hope you enjoy them!

My Favorite Quotes About Mountain Climbing

1. “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.”

– John Muir

2. “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

3. “You don’t climb mountains without a team, you don’t climb mountains without being fit, you don’t climb mountains without being prepared and you don’t climb mountains without balancing the risks and rewards. And you never climb a mountain on accident – it has to be intentional.”

– Mark Udall

4. “Climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow, till you find your dream. A dream that will need all the love you can give, everyday of your life, for as long as you live”

– The Sound of Music

5. “Life is like climbing a mountain filled with uncertainties. The only difference is that mountain climbers know their journey will end at the peak, but we don’t know when or where our life will end.”

– Ankit

6. “You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you’ve climbed a mountain.”

– Tom Hiddleston

7. “Highest of heights, I climb this mountain and feel one with the rock and grit and solitude echoing back at me.”

– Bradley Chicho

8. “The experienced mountain climber is not intimidated by a mountain – he is inspired by it.”

– William Arthur Ward

9. “Mountains know 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

10. “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

11. “I’m always looking for a new challenge. There are a lot of mountains to climb out there. When I run out of mountains, I’ll build a new one.”

– Sylvester Stallone

12. “I slow down when hiking. The rhythm of nature is more leisurely. The sun comes up, it moves across the sky, and you begin to synchronize to that rhythm.”

– John Mackey

13. “May your dreams be larger than mountains and may you have the courage to scale their summits.”

– Harley King

14. “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

Shorter Quotes About Mountain Climbing

15. “Nothing lives long, Only the earth and mountains.”

– Dee Brown

16. “The best view comes after the hardest climb.”

– Unknown

17. “When preparing to climb a mountain, pack a light heart.”

– Dan May

18. “Each fresh peak ascended teaches something.”

– Sir Martin Conway

19. “Going to the mountains is like going home”

– John Muir

20. “Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.”

– Barry Finlay

21. “The pure, dry mountain air is the elixir of life.”

– Isabella Bird

22. “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.”

– John Muir

23. “Without great mountains, we cannot reach great heights”

– Richard Paul Evans

24. “In the mountains of wisdom, no climbing is in vain.”

– Nhat Hanh

25. “Freedom gives you the air of the high mountains.”

– Mehmet Murat ildan

26. “May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.”

– Edward Abbey

27. “Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains”

– Jeffrey Rasley

28. “Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.”

– Hermann Buhl

Mountain Climbing Quotes by Actual Mountain Climbers

29. “Mountains are like the great equalizer. It doesn’t matter who anyone is or what they do.”

– Jimmy Chin

30. “Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddam mountain.”

– Jack Kerouac

31. “The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters.”

– Conrad Anker

32. “As a mountain you can’t grow, but as a human, I can.”

– Edmund Hillary

33. “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

34. “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

35. “And if someday, my sons ask, “Dad, why did you choose to climb?” Smiling, I’ll reply, I climbed so you could fly.”

– Mekael Shane

36. “As a professional climber, that’s the question you always get: Why, why, why? It’s an ineffable thing; you can’t describe it.”

– Jimmy Chin

37. “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

38. “Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it.”

– Edmund Hillary

39. “There’s a constant tension in climbing, and really all exploration, between pushing yourself into the unknown but trying not to push too far. The best any of us can do is to tread that line carefully.”

– Alex Honnold

40. “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

41. “Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.”

– Ed Viesturs

42. “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 Purja

More Mountain Climbing Quotes I Love

43. “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

44. “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

45. “Those who travel to mountain-tops are half in love with themselves, and half in love with oblivion.”

– Robert Macfarlane

46. “Accidents on big mountains happen when people’s ambitions cloud their good judgment. Good climbing is about climbing with heart and with instinct, not ambition and pride.”

– Bear Grylls

47. “Great things are done when men and mountains meet.”

–William Blake

48. “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

49. “You need mountains, long staircases don’t make good hikers.”

– Amit Kalantri

50. “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

51. “By climbing mountains we were not learning how big we were. We were finding out how breakable, how weak and how full of fear we are.”

– Reinhold Messner

52. “I’m not thinking about anything when I’m climbing, which is part of the appeal. I’m focused on executing what’s in front of me.”

– Alex Honnold

53. “The attractive thing about rock climbing: There are no rules.”

– Dean Potter

54. “I like the mountains because they make me feel small. They help me sort out what’s important in life.”

– Mark Obmascik

55. “The higher you climb on the mountain, the harder the wind blows.”

– Sam Cummings

56. “The climb speaks to our character, but the view, I think, to our souls.”

– Lori Lansens

Ideas for Using These Mountain Climbing Quotes

These mountain climbing quotes are great for inspiration for future trips to the mountains. I like to keep a few of them written on notecards on my desk to help keep me motivated and planning my next trip They also make great captions for social media posts like Instagram and Facebook. However you decided to use my mountain climbing quotes, I am sure they will help spark your next hike or climb!

What Are Your Favorite Mountain Climbing Quotes?

Do you have a favorite quote that I missed? We want to know! Share a comment below with all of your favorite mountain climbing quotes and we may add them to the blog during our next update. I hope you enjoyed these fifty-six mountain climbing quotes. Safe travels on the trail!

Additional Resources with Mountain Climbing Quotes

Looking for more mountain climbing quotes? Here are several resources with more related quotes to check out. Have a suggestion for another resource? Share a comment below or send me a message and we may add it to the list!

Alex Derr, Creator of The Next Summit

Alex is an Eagle Scout, climber, and environmental policy expert located in Denver, Colorado. He created The Next Summit to help others stay safe exploring the mountains and advocate to preserve the peaks for the future. Follow him on Linkedin or Twitter or click here to contact him.