Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.
John MuirRead
It is always interesting to see people in dead earnest, from whatever cause, and earthquakes make everybody earnest.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights how serious situations, like earthquakes, compel people to act with sincerity and urgency.
John Muir reflects on the human condition in the face of natural disasters, suggesting that crises bring out a sense of earnestness and authenticity in people. When confronted with the overwhelming power of nature, individuals set aside trivialities and demonstrate a more genuine side of themselves, united in the pursuit of survival and understanding.
Themes
EarthquakesSincerityHuman NatureCrisisAuthenticity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech about resilience in the face of natural disasters.
More from John Muir
All quotes βWhen we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.
John MuirRead
As long as I live, I'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I'll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I'll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can".
John MuirRead
The forests of America, however slighted by man, must have been a great delight to God; for they were the best he ever planted. The whole continent was a garden, and from the beginning, it seemed to be favored above all the other wild parks and gardens of the globe.
John MuirRead
From the dust of the earth, from the common elementary fund, the Creator has made Homo sapiens. From the same material he has made every other creature, however noxious and insignificant to us. They are earth-born companions and our fellow mortals.
John MuirRead
...full of God's thoughts, a place of peace and safety amid the most exalted grandeur and enthusiastic action, a new song, a place of beginnings abounding in first lessons of life, mountain building, eternal, invincible, unbreakable order; with sermons in stone, storms, trees, flowers, and animals brimful with humanity.
John MuirRead
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