101 Epic Quotes About Exploring to Spark Your Wanderlust

With the last of COVID-related travel restrictions behind us, 46 million Britons are going on holiday this year.

What about you? Are you dreaming of hopping on a flight and ticking a few amazing destinations off your travel bucket list?

To whet your appetite and fuel your wanderlust, I’ve compiled a long list of quotes about exploring and travelling. From ancient poets to famous philosophers and comedians, everyone has something inspirational to say about exploration.

Keep reading below to find the ultimate quote about exploring!

Looking for exploring quotes? You might also like these:

Classic Exploration Quotes

1. “The gladdest moment in human life is a departure into unknown lands.” — Sir Richard Burton

2. “Not all those who wander are lost.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

3. “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste it, to experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

4. “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by.” — Robert Frost

5. “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” — Andre Gide

6. “Great things have small beginnings.” — Francis Drake

7. “I wandered everywhere, through cities and countries wide. And everywhere I went, the world was on my side.” ― Roman Payne

8. “The most beautiful thing in the world is, of course, the world itself.” — Wallace Stevens

9. “We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.” — Anais Nin

10. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” ― Saint Augustine

11. “In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.” ― Ansel Adams

12. “Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.” — Dalai Lama

13. “Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport.” — Anonymous

14. “Live life with no excuses, travel with no regret.” — Oscar Wilde

15. “I have worn the dust of many foreign streets, but to brush it off would surely be silly. I have memories of many foreign adventures, but to forget them, would surely be a sin.” — Rowland Waring-Flood

16. “There are no foreign lands. It is the traveller only who is foreign.” — Robert Louis Stevenson

17. “The journey not the arrival matters.” — T.S. Eliot

18. “At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable.” ― Henry David Thoreau

19. “The best gift you could have given her was a lifetime of adventures.” — Lewis Carroll

20. “If we were meant to stay in one place we’d have roots instead of feet.” — Rachel Wolchin

Explore Quotes to Inspire You

21. “I will go anywhere, as long as it is forward.” — David Livingstone

22. “Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that mountain.” ― Jack Kerouac

23. “The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have.” — Anna Quindlen

24. “Man can learn nothing except by going from the known to the unknown.” — Claude Bernard

25. “We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfilment.” — Hilaire Belloc

26. “Exploration is a wonderful way to open our eyes to the world and to truly see that impossible is just a word.” — Richard Branson

27. “Exploration is curiosity put into action.” — Don Walsh

28. “You must give everything to make your life as beautiful as the dreams that dance in your imagination.” ― Roman Payne

29. “I’m in love with cities I’ve never been to and people I’ve never met.” — Melody Truong

30. “Travel is the only thing you buy that will make you richer.” — Anonymous

31. “We don’t live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means, and that is what life is for.” — George Mallory

32. “This wasn’t a strange place; it was a new one.” — Paolo Coehlo

33. “You can shake the sand from your shoes, but it will never leave your soul.” — Unknown

34. “Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” — T. S. Eliot

35. “Look for chances to take the less-travelled roads. There are no wrong turns.” — Susan Magsamen

36. “Blessed are the curious for they will have adventures.” — Lovelle Drachman

37. “You can accelerate your development by giving yourself a fresh set of challenges, or the same set viewed from a different angle, every day. Explore a different path – if it leads nowhere, explore another.” — Paul Foxton

38. “Investment in travel is an investment in yourself.” — Matthew Karsten

39. “Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” — Gustave Flaubert

40. “Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.” — Jennifer Lee

41. “The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.” — Unknown

42. “She didn’t care about money, only experiences – whether they came from wealth or from poverty, it was all the same to her.” ― Roman Payne

43. “The goal is to die with memories, not dreams.” — Anonymous

44. “In life, it is not where you go, it is who you travel with.” — Charles M. Schulz

45. “Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life.” — Michael Palin

46. “So much of who we are is where we have been.” — William Langewiesche

47. “There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory.” — Francis Drake

48. “My only fear is that I might awaken in my bed, destined to live a common life once again.” — Marco Polo

49. “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” — Aldous Huxley

50. “People ask me, ‘What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?’ and my answer is ‘because it’s there.’” — George Mallory

Quote about exploring — Next up: some popular quote about exploring you might already be familiar with!

Famous Quotes About Exploring

51. “To travel is to live.” — Hans Christian Anderson

52. “It is in our nature to explore, to reach out into the unknown. The only true failure would be not to explore at all.” — Ernest Shackleton

53. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu

54. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

55. “Jobs fill your pockets but adventures fill your soul.” — Jaime Lyn Beatty

56. “As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.” ― Herman Melville

57. “Better to see something once than hear about it a thousand times.” — Unknown

58. “Until you cross the bridge of your insecurities, you can’t begin to explore your possibilities.” — Tim Fargo

59. “Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” — Anita Desai

60. “Since life is short and the world is wide, the sooner you start exploring it, the better.” — Simon Raven

61. “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” — Susan Sontag

62. “Adventure is allowing the unexpected to happen to you. Exploration is experiencing what you have not experienced before.” ― Richard Aldington

63. “I did not write half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed.” — Marco Polo

64. “Sometimes all you need is a great friend and a tank of gas.” — Thelma and Louise

65. “Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” — Jack Kerouac

66. “Roads were made for journeys, not destinations.” — Confucius

67. “Fill your life with adventures, not things. Have stories to tell not stuff to show.” — Anonymous

68. “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” — Helen Keller

69. “A person does not grow from the ground like a vine or a tree, one is not part of a plot of land. Mankind has legs so it can wander.” ― Roman Payne

70. “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” — T.S. Eliot

71. “Travel is never a matter of money but of courage.” — Paolo Coelho

72. “Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.” ― Edwin Hubble

73. “We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” — Jawaharlal Nehru

74. “Seize the day boys, make your life extraordinary.” — John Keating

75. “Let those who wish to have their respectability. I wanted freedom, freedom to indulge in whatever caprice struck my fancy, freedom to search in the furthermost corners of the earth for the beautiful, the joyous, and the romantic.” — Richard Halliburton

76. “Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travellers don’t know where they’re going.” — Paul Theroux

Funny Quotes About Exploration

77. “Adventure may hurt you but monotony will kill you.” — Anonymous

78. “My favourite childhood memory is my parents paying for my holidays.” — Anonymous

79. “Do more things that make you forget to check your phone.” — Anonymous

80. “I’m stuck somewhere between ‘I need to save’ and ‘You only live once’.” — Anonymous

81. “At the end of the day…I’d rather like to have a lot of stories to tell, than a full bank account.” — Anonymous

82. “Ironing boards are surfboards that gave up their dreams and got a boring job. Don’t be an ironing board.” — Anonymous

83. “Work tip: Stand up. Stretch. Take a walk. Go to the airport. Get on a plane. Never return.” — Anonymous

84. “I thought I wanted a career. Turns out I just want a paycheck to buy plane tickets.” — Anonymous

85. “It’s bad manners to keep a vacation waiting.” — Anonymous

Short & Sweet Exploring Quotes

86. “My greatest fear is not living my life.” — Ed Stafford

87. “I do not explain, I explore.” — Marshall McLuhan

88. “The best traveller is one without a camera.” ― Kamand Kojouri

89. “Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit.” — Frank Borman

90. “The world is yours to explore.” — Anonymous

91. “Adventure is out there.” — Charles Muntz

92. “I do not explain, I explore.” — Marshal McLuhan

93. “Live your life by a compass, not a clock.” — Stephen Covey

94. “He who is outside his door has the hardest part of his journey behind him.” — Dutch Proverb

95. “Travel is an investment in yourself.” — Anonymous

96. “Sailors on a becalmed sea, we sense the stirring of a breeze.” ― Carl Sagan

97. “Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost.” — Erol Ozan

98. “Travel far enough, you meet yourself.” — David Mitchell

99. “Sometimes the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn’t mean to take.” — Angela N. Blount

100. “Not all classrooms have four walls.” — Unknown

101. “A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” — John A. Shedd

Your New Favourite Quote About Exploring

So, how many of these quotes about exploring have you heard before? Which ones were new to you?

Old or new, there’s a quote about exploring that’s the perfect mantra for your next departure. Bookmark this list of exploration quotes — even better, share it with your friends — so you’ll always have fresh inspiration for your journeys.

Speaking of exploring quotes, where are you planning to go next? Is it time to dust off those travel plans and finally book that ticket?

Read this article to discover the perfect destination to explore with your best friends!