The Andes Mountains run from the top to bottom of South America, essentially splitting the continent in two. They are majestic, imposing and awe-inspiring, all at the same time. If you’re heading to South America and plan on exploring some of the mighty Andes, these mountain quotes are perfect for inspiring adventure.
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Contents
59 Best Mountain Quotes
Inspirational Mountain Quotes
1. “Great things are done when men and mountains meet; This is not done by jostling in the street.” – William Blake.
2. “When faced with a large project, remember you move a mountain one stone at a time.” – Catherine Pulsifer.
3. “Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.” – Anatoli Boukreev.
4. “Keep close to nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” – John Muir
5. “Over every mountain, there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.” – Theodore Roethke.
6. “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.
7. “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.
Quotes About Climbing Mountains
8. “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.
9. “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” – Muhammad Ali.
10. “He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies, real or imaginary.” – Friedrich Nietzsche.
11. “Man can climb to the highest summits, but he cannot dwell there long.” – George Bernard Shaw.
12. “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.
13. “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.
Short Mountain Quotes
14. “The mountains are calling and I must go.” – John Muir.
15. “You climb to reach the summit, but once there, discover that all roads lead down.” – Stanislaw Lem.
16. “I like being near the top of a mountain. One can’t get lost here.” – Wislawa Szymborska.
17. “When preparing to climb a mountain – pack a light heart.” – Dan May.
18. “Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery of why we climb.” – Greg Child.
19. “I am never lost in the mountains, it’s where I find myself.” – Anonymous.
20. “So this was what a mountain was like, the same as a person: the more you know, the less you fear.” – Wu Ming-Yi.
21. “You are not in the mountains. The mountains are in you.” – John Muir.
22. “The best view comes after the hardest climb.” – Anonymous.
23. “May your dreams be larger than mountains and may you have the courage to scale their summits.” – Harley King.
24. “Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous.” – Reinhold Messner.
25. “My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.” – Aldous Huxley.
Mountain Quotes About Life
26. “The cliche is that life is a mountain. You go up, reach the top and then go down.” – Jeanne Moreau.
27. “Life sucks a lot less when you add mountain air, a campfire and some peace and quiet.” – Brooke Hampton.
28. “Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain.” – Edmund Hillary.
29. “Every man should pull a boat over a mountain once in his life.” – Werner Herzog
30. “Everybody wants to be on the mountaintop, but if you’ll remember, mountaintops are rocky and cold. There is no growth on the top of a mountain. Sure, the view is great, but what’s a view for? A view just gives us a glimpse of our next destination-our next target. But to hit that target, we must come off the mountain, go through the valley, and begin to climb the next slope. 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.
31. “Choose the mountain you want to climb: don’t pay attention to what other people say, such as “that one’s more beautiful” or “this one’s easier”. You’ll be spending lots of energy and enthusiasm to reach your objective, so you’re the only one responsible and you should be sure of what you’re doing.” – Paulo Coelho.
Funny Mountain Quotes
32. “I’ve realised that at the top of the mountain, there’s another mountain.” – Andrew Garfield.
33. “Never measure the height of a mountain until you reach the top. Then you will see how low it was.” – Dag Hammarskjold.
34. “In the mountains, there are only two grades: You can either do it, or you can’t.” – Rusty Baille.
35. “When life gives you mountains, put those boots and start hiking.” – Anonymous.
36. “Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.” – Hermann Buhl.
37. “If you don’t have a mountain, build one and then climb it. And after you climb it, build another one; otherwise, you start to flatline in your life.” – Sylvester Stallone.
Mountain Quotes for Instagram
38.“When everything feels like an uphill struggle, Just think of the view from the top.” – Anonymous.
39. “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.
40. “Your faith can move mountains and your doubt can create them.” – Swami Vivekananda.
41. “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.
42. “Mountains teach that not everything in this world can be rationally explained.” – Aleksander Lwow.
43. “Always be thankful for the little things… even the smallest mountains can hide the most breathtaking views!” – Nyki Mack.
Mountain Quotes from Movies
44. “We don’t need competition between people. There is competition between every person and this mountain. The last word always belongs to the mountain.” – Anatoli Boukreev from the movie Everest.
45. “You know, most people who disappear into the mountains want to be alone.” – Kristoff from the movie Frozen.
46. “It’s kinda strange, isn’t it? How the mountains pay us no attention at all. You laugh or you cry, the wind just keeps on blowing.” – Jed from the movie Red Dawn.
47. “The mountains look like big teeth.” – Eugenia Parrado from the movie Alive.
Mountain Quotes from Books
48. “Kid, you’ll move mountains.” – Dr Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
49. “I can speak to my soul only when the two of us are off exploring deserts or cities or mountains or roads.” – Paulo Coelho, Aleph.
50. “I wonder if it’s like this for mountain climbers, he thought. You climb bigger and bigger mountains and you know that one day one of them is going to be just that bit too steep. But you go on doing it because it’s so-o good when you breathe the air up there. And you know you’ll die falling.”– Terry Pratchett, Going Postal.
51. “What are men to rocks and mountains?” – Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.
52. “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, Our National Parks.
53. “Those who travel to mountain-tops are half in love with themselves, and half in love with oblivion.” – Robert Macfarlane, Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination.
54. “Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.” – Barry Finlay, Kilimanjaro and Beyond.
55. “You don’t need to climb a mountain to know that it’s high.” – Paulo Coelho, Aleph].
56. “Mountains, according to the angle of view, the season, the time of day, the beholder’s frame of mind, or any one thing, can effectively change their appearance. Thus, it is essential to recognize that we can never know more than one side, one small aspect of a mountain.” – Haruki Murakami, A Wild Sheep Chase.
57. “We are in the world where the longing mountains are the most grounded.” – Sorin Cerin, Wisdom Collection: The Book of Wisdom.
58. “I’m a person of the mountains and the open paddocks and the big empty sky, that’s me, and I knew if I spent too long away from all that I’d die; I don’t know what of, I just knew I’d die.” – John Marsden, A Killing Frost.
59. “We all have our personal Andes.” – Nando Parrado, Miracle in the Andes.
Got a mountain quote that you love that isn’t on our list? Let us know what it is in the South America Backpacker Facebook Community!
Sheree Hooker | Editor @ South America Backpacker + Winging The World
Sheree is the awkward British wanderluster behind wingingtheworld.com, a travel blog designed to show that even the most useless of us can travel. Follow Sheree’s adventures as she blunders around the globe, falling into squat toilets, getting into cars with machete men and running away from angry peacocks.
