Philosophy…and inspiration

[Paul Wagner]

Here are some of our favorite quotes about travel–which apply to hiking as well:

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.”  from Ibn Battuta, the remarkable Arab who toured the known world 1200 years ago.

“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” – Anonymous

“The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.” – A great line that explains why large groups always travel slower, by Henry David Thoreau, who supposedly was roughing at Walden Pond.  But his sister brought him fresh baked cookies every day…

“Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” – Seneca

“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien.  And we’ve wandered many times, on our trips.

“It is not down in any map; true places never are.” – Herman Melville–which is just the excuse you need to get off-trail and explore a little bit.

And an all-time favorite from Mark Twain: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

[Rick Reno]

“If you don’t know where you’re going then you probably won’t end up there.” -Forrest Gump

[Skibbs]

While not directly related to travel, I relate to this one for solo hikes:

“I love to be alone.  I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.”  -Henry David Thoreau

[Paul Magnanti]

Phil Rizzuto – “Hey Yogi I think we’re lost.”

Yogi Berra – “Ya, but we’re making great time!”.

***

“Reality often astonishes theory.” – Tom Magliozzi, Car Talk

 

 

 

[Nick Gatel]

Paul,

Leave it to you to find some Italian philosophers. Well, maybe Rizzuto can’t be called a philosopher, but he’s Italian and obviously a front man for Yogi.

:)

 

 

[Paul Magnanti]

Ha! Did not even think about the ethnicity of these wise sages. I can’t help it I guess. ;)

Speaking of wise Italian philosophers, here is another one by a man named Domenic I just quoted the other day:  “Keep your ears and eyes open and your mouth shut”.

My paternal grandfather. I don’t always heed those wise words as much as I should. He was not the first to say those words. But he was the one to say it who has the most impact on me. Good enough.

 

[brian H]

“Some times your ahead, some times your behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.”

Mary Schmich [i think]

[Paul Wagner]

“Hiker, there is no trail. You make the trail by hiking”

Roughly adapted from Spanish Poet Antonio Machado: “Caminante, no hay camino. Se hace el camino al andar.”

[Lester Moore]

“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

 

[Tipi Walter]

One of my faves—

“Without wilderness, the world’s a cage.”  David Brower.

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