130 Mountain Quotes on Climbing & Reaching New Heights

These mountain quotes will inspire you to cherish the climb and keep moving forward.

Mountains always look like they can reach the sky. Aside from the adventure that will make you want to climb, the expectations of the beauty you can find at the summit are one of the main motivations of man.

However, the journey going up will be arduous and give you realizations about life. But, no matter how difficult, it doesn’t make the view at the summit any less breathtaking.

Mountain Quotes on Climbing & Reaching New Heights

So, if you need some quotes that will teach you about mountains, don’t miss out on reading the complete collection below.

Let’s get started.

And make sure to check out these lake quotes.

Best Mountain Quotes

1. “Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top, then you will see how low it was.” – Dag Hammarskjöld

2. “Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.” – Barry Finlay

3. “Without mountains, we might find ourselves relieved that we can avoid the pain of the ascent, but we will forever miss the thrill of the summit. And in such a terribly scandalous trade-off, it is the absence of pain that becomes the thief of life.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough

4. “You are not in the mountains. The mountains are in you.” – John Muir

5. “Great things are done when men and mountains meet.” – William Blake

6. “You cannot conquer a mountain, for it shall continue to exist beyond you. However, if not careful, a mountain can conquer you.” – Sophie Clapton

7. “Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve. They are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.” – Anatoli Boukreev

8. “Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.” – Greg Child

9. “Climb mountains, not so the world can see you, but so you can see the world.” – David McCullough Jr.

10. “Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, days in whose light everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us God.” – John Muir

11. “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” – Edmund Hillary

12. “Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains.” – Jeffrey Rasley

13. “The mountains are the last place where man can feel truly wild.” – Sophie Clapton 

14. “Mountains are earth’s undecaying monuments.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne

15. “Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.” – Andy Rooney

Inspirational Mountain Quotes

16. “Stop staring at mountains. Climb them instead, yes, it’s a harder process, but it will lead you to a better view.” – Anonymous

17. “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

18. “Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!” – Dr. Seuss

19. “‘I like the mountains because they make me feel small,’ Jeff says. ‘They help me sort out what’s important in life.'” – Mark Obmascik

20. “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

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

22. “Be like a mountain, aim to touch the sky but stay rooted to the ground.” – Anonymous

23. “The experienced mountain climber is not intimidated by a mountain. He is inspired by it. The persistent winner is not discouraged by a problem. He is challenged by it. Mountains are created to be conquered. Adversities are designed to be defeated. Problems are sent to be solved.” – William Arthur Ward

24. “No matter how tall the mountain is, it cannot block the sun.” – Chinese Proverb

25. “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 Gregson

Also read: Road Trip Quotes, Grand Canyon Quotes

Short Mountain Quotes

26. “Mountains are the beginning and end of all-natural scenery.” – John Ruskin

27. “Wherever we go in the mountains, we find more than we seek.” – John Muir

28. “And into the mountains, I go to lose my mind and find my soul.” – John Muir

29. “When preparing to climb a mountain, pack a light heart.” – Dan May

30. “One day’s exposure to mountains is better than a cartload of books.” – John Muir

31. “May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” – Edward Abbey

32. “You don’t need to climb a mountain to know that it’s high.” – Paulo Coelho

33. “I am never lost in the mountains. It’s where I find myself.” – Lez Hiller

34. “The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters.” – Conrad Anker

35. “I learn something every time I go into the mountains.” – Michael Kennedy

36. “Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.” – John Fox

37. “Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.” – Hermann Buhl

38. “How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!” – John Muir

39. “The top of one mountain is always the bottom of another.” – Marianne Williamson

40. “The mountains are calling, and I must go.” – John Muir

Also read: Short Quotes

Meaningful Mountain Quotes

41. “Mountains teach that not everything in this world can be rationally explained.” – Aleksander Lwow

42. “The sun shines brightest from the peaks of mountains.” – Sophie Clapton

43. “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home. That wilderness is a necessity.” – John Muir

44. “So this was what a mountain was like, the same as a person, the more you know, the less you fear.” – Wu Ming-yi

45. “The great thing about reaching the top of the mountain is realizing that there’s space for more than one person, and you’re now in the prime position to help others up.” – Sophie Clapton

46. “The higher you climb on the mountain, the harder the wind blows.” – Samuel Cummings

47. “This mountain, the arched back of the earth risen before us. It made me feel humble, like a beggar, just lucky to be here at all, even briefly.” – Bridget Asher

48. “I’ve realized that at the top of the mountain, there’s another mountain.” – Andrew Garfield

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

50. “If you want to train for big mountain endeavors, spend time in big mountains.” – Jimmy Chin

51. “A trail through the mountains, if used, becomes a path in a short time, but, if unused, becomes blocked by grass in an equally short time.” – Mencius

52. “Man can climb to the highest summits, but he cannot dwell there long.” – George Bernard Shaw

53. “If you are faced with a mountain, you have several options. You can climb it and cross to the other side. You can go around it. You can dig under it. You can fly over it. You can blow it up. You can ignore it and pretend it’s not there. You can turn around and go back the way you came. Or you can stay on the mountain and make it your home.” – Vera Nazarian

54. “You never climb the same mountain twice, not even in memory. Memory rebuilds the mountain, changes the weather, retells the jokes, remakes all the moves.” – Lito Tejada-Flores

55. “It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out. It’s the grain of sand in your shoe.” – Robert W. Service

Deep Mountain Quotes That Will Make You Think About Life

56. “The cliche is that life is a mountain. You go up, reach the top, and then go down.” – Jeanne Moreau

57. “Life’s a bit like mountaineering. Never look down.” – Edmund Hillary

58. “All mountain landscapes hold stories: the ones we read, the ones we dream, and the ones we create.” – Michael Kennedy

59. “Mountain hikes instilled in me a life-long urge to get to the top of any inviting summit or peak.” – Paul D. Boyer

60. “If you have the high spirit of the high mountains, even the greatest powers of the outer world will respect and admire you.” – Mehmet Murat İldan

61. “Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” – Jack Kerouac

62. “Climbing a mountain represents a chance to be briefly free of the small concerns of our common lives, to strip off nonessentials, to come down to the core of life itself: food, shelter, and friends.” – Mateo Cabello

63. “The greatest gift of life on the mountain is time. Time to think or not think, read or not read, scribble or not scribble, to sleep and cook and walk in the woods, to sit and stare at the shapes of the hills. I produce nothing but words. I consume nothing but food, a little propane, a little firewood. By being utterly useless in the calculations of the culture at large, I become useful, at last, to myself.” – Philip Connors

64. “Mountains are both a journey and destination. They summon us to climb their slopes, explore their canyons, and attempt their summits.” – T.A. Loeffler

65. “If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go.” – Edmund Hillary

66. “There is no such sense of solitude as that which we experience upon the silent and vast elevations of great mountains. Lifted high above the level of human sounds and habitations, among the wild expanses and colossal features of nature, we are thrilled in our loneliness with a strange fear and elation, an ascent above the reach of life’s expectations or companionship, and the tremblings of wild and undefined misgivings.” – Sheridan Le Fanu

67. “Being positive is like going up a mountain. Being negative is like sliding down a hill. A lot of times, people want to take the easy way out because it’s basically what they’ve understood throughout their lives.” – Arthur Schopenhauer

68. “A sense of solemn aspiration comes upon us as we view the mountain. We are uplifted. The entire scale of being is raised. Our outlook on life seems all at once to have been heightened.” – Francis Younghusband

69. “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Confucius

70. “You climb mountains with your feet, but can only move them with your soul.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

Also read: Quotes to Live By

Mountain Quotes to Learn Why Hiking Is Beautiful

71. “Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air, and behold the view.” – David McCullough Jr.

72. “We always discuss reaching the top of the mountain as the challenge. But those that have been there know coming back down is the hardest part.” – Sophie Clapton

73. “Men climb mountains, scale heights, venture into the unexplored to prove to other men it can be done.” – Mother Angelica

74. “He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies, real or imaginary.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

75. “Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain just a little bit to test if it’s a mountain. From the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain.” – Frank Herbert

76. “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

77. “You climb to reach the summit, but once there, discover that all roads lead down.” – Stanislaw Lem

78. “When you go to the mountains, you see them, and you admire them. In a sense, they give you a challenge, and you try to express that challenge by climbing them.” – Edmund Hillary

79. “I love to sit on a mountain top and gaze. I don’t think of anything but the people I care about and the view.” – Julian Lennon

80. “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

81. “Purposes, plans, and achievements of men may all disappear like a yon cloud upon the mountain’s summit, but, like the mountain itself, the things which are of God shall stand fast forever and ever.” – Charles Spurgeon

82. “Climbing has shown me that I am all those things: strong and weak, brave and cowardly, both immune to and at the mercy of the death of death, all at the same time.” – Steve House

83. “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 by accident. It has to be intentional.” – Mark Udall

84. “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

85. “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

Also read: Into the Wild Quotes

Profound Mountain Quotes That Will Comfort Your Soul

86. “Happiness is not at the top of the mountains but in how to climb it.” – Confucius

87. “Only mountains can feel the frozen warmth of the sun through snow’s gentle caress on their peaks.” – Munia Khan

88. “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 Erickson

89. “And if these mountains had eyes, they would wake to find two strangers in their fences, standing in admiration as a breathing red pours its tinge upon earth’s shore. These mountains, which have seen untold sunrises, long to thunder praise but stand reverent, silent so that man’s weak praise should be given God’s attention.” – Donald Miller

90. “The mountains were his masters. They rimmed in life. They were the cup of reality, beyond growth, beyond struggle and death. They were his absolute unity in the midst of eternal change.” – Thomas Wolfe

Also read: Soul Quotes

Mountain Quotes That Will Motivate You to Go On an Adventure

91. “The mountains whisper for me to wander. My soul hikes to the call.” – Angie Weiland-Crosby

92. “The mountain remains unmoved at seeming defeat by the mist.” – Rabindranath Tagore

93. “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

94. “I see every person as a mountain of sorts. We can see how they look from afar but will never know them until we explore.” – Sophie Clapton

95. “I appreciate why I come to the mountains, not to conquer them, but to immerse myself in their incomprehensible immensity.” – Jennifer Lowe-Anker

96. “Don’t pay attention to the size of the mountain in front of you. Rather, think about what the view from the summit is going to be like.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough

97. “In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds.” – Robert G. Ingersoll

98. “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.” – John Muir

99. “Over every mountain, there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.” – Theodore Roethke

100. “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

101. “I think every time I’m on the mountain, I’m just so thankful to be there.” – Chloe Kim

102. “I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news.” – John Muir

103. “You can’t move mountains by whispering at them.” – Pink

104. “May you find the might to move your mountains.” – Lailah Gifty Akita

105. “She asked him, ‘What do you do when you feel alone and lonely?’ And he said, ‘I talk to the mountains!'” – Avijeet Das

Mountain Quotes That Are Full of Lessons

106. “The farthest mountain is the one you think you can never reach, and it may even be just by the side of you!” – Mehmet Murat İldan

107. “Some mountains only require a good pair of shoes. Others require an entire team to conquer. Knowing which is the key to success.” – Sophie Clapton

108. “We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us.” – John Muir

109. “You need mountains. Long staircases don’t make good hikers.” – Amit Kalantri

110. “A night on the mountain is better than a thousand nights in the city because you meet the universe on the mountain.” – Mehmet Murat İldan

111. “The hardest mountain to climb is the one within.” – J. Lynn

112. “You won’t find reasonable men at the top of tall mountains.” – Hunter S. Thompson

113. “The mountains are a demanding, cold place, and they don’t allow for mistakes.” – Conrad Anker

114. “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.” – René Daumal

115. “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

116. “The secret of the mountain is that the mountains simply exist, as I do myself. The mountains exist simply, which I do not. The mountains have no ‘meaning,’ they are meaning. The mountains are. The sun is round. I ring with life, and the mountains ring, and when I can hear it, there is a ringing that we share. I understand all this, not in my mind but in my heart, knowing how meaningless it is to try to capture what cannot be expressed, knowing that mere words will remain when I read it all again, another day.” – Peter Matthiessen

117. “Mountains terrify me. They just sit about. They are so proud.” – Sylvia Plath

118. “The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks.” – Tennessee Williams

119. “No single mountain ever came to me, so I always go to them.” – Erik Tanghe

120. “We aren’t made to live in the shadow of daunting, haunting mountains. We were made to move them.” – Elizabeth Griffin

Funny Mountain Quotes

121. “Ain’t no mountain highland enough.” – Anonymous

122. “A younger me needed to climb every mountain. The older me says they photograph better from the bottom.” – Sophie Clapton

123. “I take all day to climb mountains and then spend about 10 minutes at the top admiring the view.” – Sebastian Thrun

124. “You need to change your altitude.” – Anonymous

125. “Feeling low? Go on mountains.” – Prajakta Mhadnak

More Mountain Quotes for the Nature Lovers

126. “Mountains are the soul’s fuel.” – Anonymous

127. “Atop a mountain, one feels as close to the heavens as a bird soaring through the sky.” – Anonymous

128. “It is better to master one mountain than a thousand foothills.” – William Arthur Ward

129. “Every man should pull a boat over a mountain once in his life.” – Werner Herzog

130. “Who wouldn’t be a mountaineer! Up here, all the world’s prizes seem like nothing.” – John Muir

Did These Quotes Motivate You to Go to an Adventure on a Mountain?

Climbing mountains can teach us a lot about life. After all, the mental and physical changes that will happen to you after the climb are similar to overcoming obstacles in life.

Like life, no mountain is too high if we keep moving forward. Through mountains, we are reminded to be strong and keep ourselves together to accomplish our goals. The road will be hard to take, but it gives life meaning and pushes us to grow.

Without mountains, we will never know the beauty of the skies and nature. So, keep climbing and take your time while reaching the top. 

What is your biggest takeaway from these mountain quotes? Did you learn a lot from this mountain quote collection? Share your thoughts with us in the section below!

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Karen Danao

Hi, I’m Karen, a content curator and writer for Quote Ambition; I’m also a marketing and advertising professional. Beyond the keyboard and the screen, I’m someone who’s out to enjoy every bit that life has to offer!

Poetry, philosophy, history, and movies are all topics I love writing about! However, my true passion is in traveling, photography, and finding common ground to which everyone from different cultures can relate.

With the many places I’ve been to, I found that love, inspiration, and happiness are some things that bring people together. No matter how different we are on the outside, I’m a true believer that our emotions don’t lie; if you dig deep into our psyche, we’re all the same inside.

This belief was further amplified when I joined Quote Ambition. Through the quotes I’ve read, collected, organized, and written about, I found that humans are resilient, creative, and compassionate.

We take from each others’ hearts and courage, and it’s through our individual experiences that we learn how to rise above our challenges and pain. In so many ways, Quote Ambition is a platform that allows people from all over the world to gain the inspiration they need anytime, anywhere!

You can find me on MuckRack and LinkedIn.