“The famous Zen parable about the master for whom, before his studies, mountains were only mountains, but during his studies mountains were no longer mountains, and afterward mountains were again mountains could be interpreted as an allegory about [the perpetual paradox that when one is closest to a destination one is also the farthest).”

“Why is it that white people find it easier to think like a mountain than like a person of colour?'Carl Anthony quoted by Rebecca Solnit”

“[In mountaineering, if] we look for private experience rather than public history, even getting to the top becomes an optional narrative rather than the main point, and those who only wander in high places become part of the story.”

“A lone peak of high point is a natural focal point in the landscape, something by which both travelers and local orient themselves. In the continuum of landscape, mountains are discontinuity -- culminating in high points, natural barriers, unearthly earth.”

“Before I had studied Chan for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and rivers as rivers. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and rivers are not rivers. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it's just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and rivers once again as rivers.”

“Before practicing meditation, we see that mountains are mountains.When we start to practice, we see that mountains are no longer mountains.After practicing a while, we see that mountains are again mountains.Now the mountains are very free. Our mind is still with the mountains,but it is no longer bound to anything.”

“Faith moves mountains, if faith were easy there would be no mountains.”