I love reading National Parks quotes. They transport me to these magical places. They inspire my love and appreciation of the parks, motivate me to start planning my next trip, bring back fond memories, and provide some inspiration for my Instagram captions!
I hope these famous quotes about National Parks inspire your own travels to the amazing parks in the USA.
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My Favorite Quote about National Parks
“Our national parks are a national treasure, and they must be preserved and protected.”
Don Beyer
This is my all-time favorite quote because it so perfectly captures how incredible our parks are, how important they are and how we all have a responsibility to take care of them in addition to enjoying them.
Quotes about National Parks
Here are more of my favorite quotes:
“The idea of wild or wilderness national parks is a distinctly American idea and did not have a European tradition. The European tradition is about formal park design rather than large wild parks, such as our national parks.”
Charles C Adams
“If you go into a national park, you have stories-about the trees and about the grasses, for example, and about the animals and about the water and about all that. When you walk into any natural, national park, you’re walking into someone’s homeland. You’re walking into somebody’s house. You’re walking into somebody’s church. … And so you’re not walking into a wilderness area, you’re walking into someplace that has been utilized for generations upon generations in every form you could imagine.”
Gerard Bake
“What a country chooses to save is what a country chooses to say about itself.”
Mollie Beattie
“The untrammeled and free nature is a mirror of our potential.”
Lyman Beecher
“To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival.”
Wendell Berry
“The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach.”
Henry Beston
“In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia.”
Harvey Broome
“National parks are the best idea we ever had. They’re a testament to our belief in democracy and the need to preserve our wild places for future generations.”
Ken Burns
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”
Rachel Carson
“Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.”
John Fielder
“A national park is not a playground. It’s a sanctuary for nature and for humans who will accept nature on nature’s own terms.”
Michael Frome
“The national parks are one of the great American ideas, and they still have the power to inspire.”
John Garamendi
“The national park idea has been nurtured by each succeeding generation of Americans. Today, across our land, the National Park System represents America at its best. Each park contributes to a deeper understanding of the history of the United States and our way of life; of the natural processes which have given form to our land, and to the enrichment of the environment in which we live.”
George B. Hartzog
“National parks are for everyone, and I want to make sure that Americans of all backgrounds can discover their parks and the magic they contain.”
Sally Jewell
“Each national park belongs to every American, every one of us.”
Lady Bird Johnson
“National parks are the lungs of the land.”
Lyndon B. Johnson
“If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them something more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.”
Lyndon B. Johnson
“National parks and reserves are an integral aspect of intelligent use of natural resources. It is the course of wisdom to set aside an ample portion of our natural resources as national parks and reserves, thus ensuring that future generations may know the majesty of the earth as we know it today.”
John F. Kennedy
“The national parks are the nation’s most sacred places and should be preserved unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”
Franklin K. Lane
“Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land.”
Aldo Leopold
“The primary duty of the National Park Service is to protect the national parks and national monuments under its jurisdiction and keep them as nearly in their natural state as this can be done in view of the fact that access to them must be provided in order that they may be used and enjoyed.”
Stephen Mather
“The parks are the Nation’s pleasure grounds and the Nation’s restoring places.”
J. Horace McFarland
“The national parks … are an American idea; it is one thing we have that has not been imported.”
J. Horace McFarland
“Wilderness is a resource which can shrink but not grow.”
Mardy Murie
“Wilderness itself is the basis of all our civilization. I wonder if we have enough reverence for life to concede to wilderness the right to live on?”
Margaret Murie
“The wilderness holds answers to more questions than we have yet learned to ask.”
Nancy Newhall
“Wilderness to the people of America is a spiritual necessity.”
Sigurd F. Olson
“I have found that some of the simplest things have given me the most pleasure.”
Richard Proenneke
“There is nothing so American as our national parks … The fundamental idea behind the parks … is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
“There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm. The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased and not impaired in value.”
Theodore Roosevelt
“A national park is a piece of land, sea, or coast, usually in its natural or semi-natural state, that is managed mainly for the enjoyment and benefit of the public.”
Alfred Runte
“National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.”
Wallace Stegner
“Wilderness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from.”
Terry Tempest Williams
“Through interpretation, understanding; through understanding, appreciation; through appreciation, protection.”
Freeman Tilden
“The parks are the nation’s finest expressions of a common purpose and a shared sense of beauty and heritage.”
Stewart Udall
“Nature is a part of our humanity, and without some awareness and experience of that divine mystery man ceases to be man.”
Florence Williams
“But our national heritage is richer than just scenic features; the realization is coming that perhaps our greatest national heritage is nature itself, with all its complexity and its abundance of life, which, when combined with great scenic beauty as it is in the national parks, becomes of unlimited value. This is what we would attain in the national parks.”
George M Wright
My Favorite National Park Caption for Instagram
What better way to add spark to your Instagram than caption it with a famous quote. My favorite is the iconic statement by the famous conservationist, John Muir:
“The mountains are calling and I must go.”
John Muir
John Muir Quotes about National Parks
John Muir is often considered the Father of the National Parks and has been called the “patron saint of the American wilderness”. He was a conservationist who was instrumental in the creation of the first national parks. He published over 300 articles and 12 books that generated some wonderful quotes.
“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
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.”
John Muir
“You are not in the mountains. The mountains are in you.”
John Muir
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
John Muir
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
John Muir
“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”
John Muir
“The snow is melting into music.”
John Muir
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.”
John Muir
“Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life.”
John Muir
“When I entered this sublime wilderness, the day was nearly done, the trees with rosy, glowing bark, seemed to be hushed and waiting.”
John Muir
“Yellowstone, it seems, is the main feature of the continent’s park system. It is the grand, central domain of wild nature given to the people of America.”
John Muir
“Yosemite is by far the grandest of all the special temples of Nature I was ever permitted to enter.”
John Muir
“Yosemite is a place of rest, a refuge from the roar and dust and weary, nervous, wasting work of the lowlands, in which one gains the advantage of both solitude and society.”
John Muir
“No temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite.”
John Muir
“The mountains are calling and I must go.”
John Muir
National Park Instagram Captions
“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.”
Gary Snyder
“The parks are the Nation’s pleasure grounds and the Nation’s restoring places.”
J. Horace McFarland
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by.”
Robert Frost
“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.”
Edward Abbey
“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.”
Edward Abbey
More Instagram Captions for National Parks
“There is a delight in the hardy life of the open.”
Theodore Roosevelt
“Great things are done when men and mountains meet.”
William Blake
“The eternal world of mountains fills the soul.”
Clarence King
“No temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite.”
John Muir
“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.”
Henry David Thoreau
Best National Park Quotes: Final Thoughts
I love that our national parks have been inspiring people from the very beginning. The very first national park in the entire world was formed right here in the United States (Yellowstone) and ever since, they have been inspiring great people (and me). I hope these quotes on National Parks inspire you too!
What’s your favorite caption for national park vacations? Do you know of any other NPS quotes not mentioned here? I’d love to hear about them. Join my private Facebook group National Parks Collectors and comment and let me know (you can also pick up extra planning tips, share your photos and stories with other national park lovers and more).
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About the Author
James Ian is a national park, camping and hiking expert.
He has dedicated his life to travel, visiting more than 80 countries, all 7 continents and most of the national parks in the United States. With over 35 years experience in the travel industry, James has worked on cruise ships, at resorts and hotels, and as a travel planner who’s helped hundreds of people plan successful trips to US national parks.
Based on his experience visiting our national parks multiple times, in-depth research and expertise as a travel planner, James has published detailed itineraries for most of the major national parks in the US. These itineraries, as well as in-depth park guides, comprehensive camping and hiking gear reviews and buying guides, and helpful packing lists and gift guides will help you have your own incredible trip to US national parks without stress and hassle.
As a national park expert, James has contributed to many publications, including USA Today, Time Business News, Savoteur, Best Trip, and Wired.