Key takeaways
- John Muir's "The mountains are calling and I must go" is real, from a letter to his sister Sarah dated September 3, 1873, and the sentence keeps going: "& I will work on while I can, studying incessantly."
- George Mallory's "Because it's there" was reported in the press in 1923, as a reporter's account of his answer, alongside a longer explanation that rarely gets quoted.
- "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves" is credited to Edmund Hillary everywhere, but the pages that share it give no book, speech or date.
- Muir's best mountain lines are in his books: "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings" is from Our National Parks (1901).
- The oldest mountain quotes still hold up: Psalm 121, Confucius on the hills, and William Blake's notebook couplet about men and mountains.
Mountain quotes are mostly about effort, and that makes them easy to fake. A good line about a summit sounds like something a famous climber should have said, so somebody eventually decides that one did.
This list keeps only lines that trace to a letter, a book or a contemporary newspaper, with the place each one sits. The most famous of them, Muir's, is held with a full transcription in the University of the Pacific's John Muir Papers.
What are the best mountain quotes?
The best mountain quotes come from people who climbed, and the first name on almost every list is John Muir. His line "The mountains are calling and I must go" is probably the most printed mountain quote in America, and it is genuine. What gets lost is where it sits and how it ends.
Next come Muir's books, then George Mallory's answer about Everest, then a handful of older lines from scripture, Confucius, Blake and Ruskin. Each is covered below, with the source.
What did John Muir actually write about the mountains calling?
Muir wrote it near the end of a letter to his sister Sarah Muir Galloway, sent from Yosemite Valley on September 3, 1873. The archive's transcription reads:
"The mountains are calling & I must go & I will work on while I can, studying incessantly."
The context changes the meaning. Muir had just come back from what he called the longest and hardest trip he had ever made in the mountains: more than five weeks away, two of them exploring the glaciers of the summits. He was planning the next one, to Kings River, and he had promised himself a winter of writing in Oakland. The line is not a vacation slogan. It is a working scientist explaining why he cannot stay put, and promising to keep studying.
The University of the Pacific's exhibit on the letter goes further and asks whether the "calling" mountains were partly an excuse to avoid writing. Anyone who has ever needed a walk before a hard task will recognize that.
What else did John Muir write about mountains?
Muir's published books hold the mountain lines most worth keeping, and they are all free at Project Gutenberg. In Our National Parks (1901), chapter II, he wrote: "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees."
In chapter I of the same book he describes "tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people" beginning "to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity."
In My First Summer in the Sierra, under the entry for July 27, he wrote the line ecologists still quote: "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." And in chapter I of The Mountains of California he named the Sierra "the Range of Light," a phrase that has outlived most of the book.
Did George Mallory really say "Because it's there"?
The answer was reported in 1923, but as a reporter's account rather than a recorded quote. Mallory was in New York between expeditions, planning to return to Everest, and the line is usually dated to a New York Times interview of March 18, 1923. I could not open the Times archive, but a syndicated version of the story ran in a North Carolina weekly, the Polk County News, on April 26, 1923, now digitized by DigitalNC.
In that story Mallory is asked why he wanted to climb Everest, and the reporter writes that "he gave as the reason for persisting in these repeated attempts to reach the top, 'Because it's there.'" Then comes the longer answer that rarely gets quoted: "Everest is the highest mountain in the world, and no man has reached its summit. Its existence is a challenge. The answer is instinctive, a part, I suppose, of man's desire to conquer the universe."
The short version became famous partly because Mallory disappeared on Everest in 1924. The long version is the better quote.
Which mountain quotes trace to a real source?
These lines trace to a primary text, archive or contemporary newspaper, with the place you can find each one.
| Quote | Source | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| "The mountains are calling & I must go" | John Muir | Letter to Sarah Muir Galloway, Yosemite Valley, September 3, 1873 |
| "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings" | John Muir | Our National Parks (1901), chapter II |
| "Going to the mountains is going home" | John Muir | Our National Parks (1901), chapter I |
| "Because it's there" | George Mallory, as reported | Syndicated 1923 interview, Polk County News, April 26, 1923 |
| "Great things are done when Men and Mountains meet" | William Blake | Notebook couplet, in John Sampson's 1905 edition of the Poetical Works |
| "Mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery" | John Ruskin | Modern Painters, volume IV, chapter XX, The Mountain Glory |
| "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help" | King James Bible | Psalm 121:1 |
| "The wise find pleasure in water; the virtuous find pleasure in hills" | Confucius, James Legge translation | Analects, Book VI, chapter XXI |
Blake's couplet finishes with a jab: "This is not done by jostling in the street." It is the best argument for a weekend in the hills ever written in two lines.
Which famous mountain quotes have no traceable source?
Several of the most shared mountain quotes come with a famous name and nothing else.
- "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves" is attributed to Edmund Hillary, who reached the summit of Everest with Tenzing Norgay in 1953, but the pages that circulate it give no book, speech or date, and I could not find a primary source.
- "The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones" is credited to Confucius, but it is not in the Legge translation of the Analects. The real passage, Book IX, chapter XVIII, compares learning to raising a mound one basket of earth at a time.
- "The best view comes after the hardest climb" has no named author. It is a modern saying, and a good one, but it belongs to nobody.
- "The mountains are calling and I must go" is real, but it is almost always cut short. Muir's sentence keeps going.
What did older writers say about mountains?
The older mountain quotes are less about conquest and more about perspective. Psalm 121 opens with "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help." In Matthew 17:20, faith as small as "a grain of mustard seed" is enough to "say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove."
Ruskin built a whole chapter of Modern Painters around the idea that mountains are "the beginning and the end of all natural scenery." And Thoreau, coming down from Ktaadn in The Maine Woods, was so struck by the raw matter of the place that he could only write: "Contact! Contact! Who are we? where are we?"
That last one is the most honest mountain quote on this page. Anyone who has stood on a summit knows the feeling, and nobody has put it better.
Which mountain quote works on a wall?
A mountain quote works on a wall when the image carries the effort and the words stay short. A lone climber on a vast slope, a peak breaking through cloud, a hiker looking out over a range: each tells the story before you read a word.
The Climb prints the hardest-climb saying over a hiker on a ridge, which suits an office. On Top carries a line about the person at the summit who did not fall there. Keep Moving Forward and Rise Above The Fog are quieter and work in a living room or bedroom, where a big landscape gives a wall depth.
Every piece is one gallery-wrapped canvas on a solid pine frame, made to order in Europe and ready to hang, with a floating frame as an optional upgrade. The range sits in the landscape wall art collection, our guide to choosing mountain art for a room covers sizing, and why nature imagery works indoors covers the rest.
Featured mountain pieces
Frequently asked questions
Where does the mountains are calling and I must go come from?
It comes from a letter John Muir wrote to his sister Sarah Muir Galloway from Yosemite Valley on September 3, 1873. The full sentence reads "The mountains are calling & I must go & I will work on while I can, studying incessantly." The University of the Pacific holds the letter.
What did Mallory mean by because it's there?
Mallory was explaining why he kept trying to climb Everest. In the same 1923 interview he added that Everest was the highest mountain in the world, that no one had reached its summit, and that its existence was a challenge answered by instinct, part of the human desire to conquer the universe.
Did Edmund Hillary say it is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves?
It is widely credited to him, but the pages that share it give no book, speech or date, and I could not find a primary source. It may be a paraphrase of something he said. Until a source turns up, it is safest to treat it as attributed rather than confirmed.
What is a good short mountain quote?
Muir's "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings" is short, sourced and hopeful. Blake's "Great things are done when Men and Mountains meet" works well on a wall, and Thoreau's "Contact! Contact!" suits anyone who has stood on a summit and run out of words.
Which mountain quote works best on a wall?
Short lines work best, set against a strong image. Muir's "going to the mountains is going home" suits a living room, Mallory's "Because it's there" suits an office or home gym, and Psalm 121 suits a quieter room like a bedroom or study.
