“Fresh beauty opens one's eyes wherever it is really seen, but the very abundance and completeness of the common beauty that besets our steps prevents its being absorbed and appreciated. It is a good thing, therefore, to make short excursions now and then to the bottom of the sea among dulse and coral, or up among the clouds on mountain-tops, or in balloons, or even to creep like worms into dark holes and caverns underground, not only to learn something of what is going on in those out-of-the-way places, but to see better what the sun sees on our return to common every-day beauty.”

— John Muir

Source: 1890s, The Mountains of California (1894), chapter 15: In the Sierra Foot-Hills

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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John Muir 183

Scottish-born American naturalist and author 1838–1914

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John Muir 183

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