NATURE & PHOTOGRAPHY QUOTES

Below is a collection of some of my favorite quotes about nature, photography and the national parks. (Plus, er, perhaps a couple by me too.) In one way or another, each has inspired, educated or touched me in some way. I hope a few do the same for you. Please feel free to share these on your website, blog, social media accounts, etc.

 

“This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.” — John Muir
“Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” — John Muir
“Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationship.” — Ansel Adams
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” — Lao Tzu
“I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” – John Muir
“To the complaint, ‘There are no people in these photos,’ I respond, There are always 2 people: the photographer and the viewer.” — Ansel Adams
“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” — Ansel Adams
“Not all those who wander are lost.” —J.R.R. Tolkein
“The mountains are calling, and I must go.” — John Muir
“Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.” — John Muir
“I believe the world is incomprehensibly beautiful — an endless prospect of magic and wonder.” — Ansel Adams
“None of Nature’s landscapes are ugly so long as they are wild.” — John Muir
“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
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” — Anne Frank
“Once destroyed, nature’s beauty cannot be repurchased at any price.” — Ansel Adams
“One day’s exposure to mountains is better than cartloads of books. See how willingly Nature poses herself upon photographers’ plates.” – John Muir
“Unlike a painter, a photographer starts with something finished and works backward.” — Anonymous
"At some point in life, the world's beauty becomes enough." — Toni Morrison
“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” — John Muir
“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
“The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it.” — Ansel Adams
"No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place." — Zen Proverb
“The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom.” — Theodore Roosevelt
“This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.” — John Muir
“None of Nature’s landscapes are ugly so long as they are wild.” — John Muir
“The earth has music for those who listen.” — George Santayana
"Any day spent in a national park is a good day." — Chris Nicholson
“Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.” – Ansel Adams
“There are no rules for good photographs. There are only good photographs.” — Ansel Adams
“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” — Vincent Van Gogh
“Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own.” — Charles Dickens
“Life is a great adventure … accept it in such a spirit.” — Theodore Roosevelt
“Today I have grown taller from walking with the trees.” — Karle Wilson Baker
"Look deep into nature, and you will understand everything better." — Albert Einstein
“I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” — Galileo
“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
“The national parks ... are an American idea; it is one thing we have that has not been imported.” — J. Horace McFarland
“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” — Lao Tzu
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” — Pablo Picasso
“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” — Ansel Adams.
"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” — Henri Cartier-Bresson
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” — John Muir
“A good photograph is knowing where to stand.” — Ansel Adams
Photography isn’t about which light is best, but knowing how to best use any light.
“The national parks ... are an American idea; it is one thing we have that has not been imported.” — J. Horace McFarland