quotations about walking
I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Walking
I have two doctors, my left leg and my right.
G. M. TREVELYAN
Clio, a Muse: And Other Essays Literary and Pedestrian
When we walk, we naturally go to the fields and woods: what would become of us, if we walked only in a garden or a mall? Even some sects of philosophers have felt the necessity of importing the woods to themselves, since they did not go to the woods. They planted groves and walks of Plantanes, where they took subdiales ambulationes in porticos open to the air. Of course, it is of no use to direct our steps to the woods, if they do not carry us thither.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Walking
The best remedy for a short temper is a long walk.
JACQUELINE SCHIFF
attributed, Quote Unquote
He put on a little knapsack and he walked through Indiana and Kentucky and North Carolina and Georgia clear to Florida. He walked among farmers and mountain people, among swamp people and fishermen. And everywhere people asked him why he was walking through the country. Because he loved true things he tried to explain.
JOHN STEINBECK
Cannery Row
There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country. A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes too fast.
PAUL SCOTT MOWRER
The House of Europe
Walking is like the ongoing picking up and straightening up you do in your house every single day. It's not exciting. There's no great benefit at the end. But it must be done.
TAMMY DAVIS
"Life is a Balancing Act", Columbia Star, April 21, 2017
Purposeless walking is not without purpose -- it is actually meditation in motion.
BISHWANATH GHOSH
"The World on Foot", The Hindu, February 5, 2016
Flies travel like they're named. Humans should be called Walks.
JAROD KINTZ
Whenever You're Gone, I'm Here For You
Walking shares with making and working that crucial element of engagement of the body and the mind with the world, of knowing the world through the body and the body through the world.
REBECCA SOLNIT
Wanderlust: A History of Walking
From the child's first faltering step across the homely carpet, to the astronaut's "one giant stride for mankind" over the alien moon dust, walking is the simplest but most glorious declaration of human independence.
DUNCAN MINSHULL
The Vintage Book Of Walking
Walking is low cost, can be done throughout the day and is proven to be a great way to improve our brain function. Get out today and take a walk -- your brain will function better.
MARIA BIGELOW
"Take a walk to improve body, brain", Lake Oswego Review
In a car you are confined to roads, your pace too quick to experience a place. Bikes bring you closer and allow you to stop a bit more, but you are still encumbered with gear. Walking is entirely different; you are fully immersed in what is around you.
CHRIS ARNADE
"Take a long walk this weekend in the real New York: Queens", The Guardian, January 30, 2016
The truth is, walking is an art. It takes skill to walk, just as it takes skill to go hiking or rock climbing. Think about it like this: Why do people hike? When they're done, do they talk about how exhausted they were and justify the hike as exercise? Some first-timers might, but for regular hikers this is hardly the case. People hike because there's something beautiful and joyous about it, whether for the beauty of the scenery or an uplifting feeling in the body.
JACK PORTER
"People Need to Remember: Walking Is the Best Medicine", The Daily Utah Chronicle, January 27, 2016
It seems thus possible to give a preliminary definition of walking as a space of enunciation.
MICHEL DE CERTEAU
The Practice of Everyday Life
You need special shoes for hiking -- and a bit of a special soul as well.
EMME WOODHULL-BÄCHE
attributed, Hiking and Backpacking
Walking is the only form of transportation in which a man proceeds erect -- like a man -- on his own legs, under his own power. There is immense satisfaction in that.
EDWARD ABBEY
Postcards from Ed
Walking is the very best exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
letter to Peter Carr, Aug. 19, 1785
I learned how to walk by doing the moonwalk. I know, you're now picturing me sliding backwards across a polished floor, but no, I don't mean the Michael Jackson moonwalk -- a thing of grace and beauty -- but the charity fundraising MoonWalk: a 26-mile night-time march through London, performed by women in their bras to raise money for breast cancer research. I took part in it a few years ago as part of a fantastically glamorous media team that trained for weeks on end. We'd meet every Sunday and walk beside the Thames, gradually building up distances and endurance, until we were easily covering 20 miles and more. I say easily: I mean huffing and puffing, covered in blisters, and fuelled by Marmite sandwiches -- but still, we did it.
TRACY THORN
"How I learned to walk miles on a midnight marathon across London", New Statesman, January 28, 2016
Most of the time, driving less and walking more is awesome. Choosing to walk or take transit is an easy way to hit my 10,000 step goal on my Fitbit and helps me think clearer. Plus, I save tons of money and sleep more soundly at night knowing my carbon footprint is probably smaller than others' because I'm not driving everywhere I go.
LIZ CALLIN
"5 Things that Make Walkable Neighborhoods Walkable", Mode Shift, February 4, 2016