It doesn’t matter if you’re a frequent traveler, full-time nomad, or only hit the road occasionally; sometimes, you get a burning desire to travel.
I’ve been location independent and living the nomad lifestyle for the last few years. During this time, exploring new countries and cities has been one of the most rewarding and fun experiences of my life.
So, if you’re looking for some nomad inspiration to plan your next trip, you’re in luck!
This post is all about the best nomad quotes you can keep in mind to foster your love for travel.
Let’s get to the quotes!
The 50+ Best Nomad Quotes
If you’re ready to hit the road, these inspiration nomad quotes are sure to get you moving!
1. “In 20 years, you will be more disappointed by what you didn’t do than by what you did.“ – Mark Twain
2. “I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.” – Carl Sandburg
3. “Take every chance you get in life, because some things only happen once.” – Karen Gibbs
4. “Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” – Jack Kerouac
5. “The freedom of the open road is seductive, serendipitous and absolutely liberating.” – Aaron Lauritsen
6. “The lyricism of marginality may find inspiration in the image of the outlaw, the great social nomad, who prowls on the confines of a docile, frightened order.” – Michel Foucault
7. “To Travel is to Live.” – Hans Christian Andersen
8. “Live life with no excuses, travel with no regret.” – Oscar Wilde
9. “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” – Anthony Bourdain
9. “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.“ – Charles Darwin
10. “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” – Alan Watts
11. “If a man would move the world, he must first move himself.“ – Socrates
12. “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Neale Donald Walsch
13. “Adventure is worthwhile.” – Aesop
14. “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.“ – Bruce Lee
15. “Choose a job that you like, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Confucius
16. “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller
17. “To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson
18. “Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
19. “Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.” – Alan Keightley
20. “Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” – Anita Desai
21. “I travel not to cross countries off a list, but to ignite passionate affairs with destinations.” – Nyssa P. Chopra
22. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
23. “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” – Mark Twain
24. “If you think adventures are dangerous, try routine: It’s Lethal.” – Paul Coelho
25. “They told me to grow roots, instead I grew wings.” – Louis de Bernières
26. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
27. “If you are lonely when you are alone, you are in bad company.” – Jean-Paul Sartre
28. “The short story is the literature of the nomad.” – John Cheever
29. “A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu
30. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.“ – Ralph Waldo Emerson
31. “The gladdest moment in human life, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton
32. “A ship in a harbor is safe, but it not what ships are built for.” – John A. Shedd
33. “Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.” – Howard Schultz
34. “It’s in those quiet little towns, at the edge of the world, that you will find the salt of the earth people who make you feel right at home.” – Aaron Lauritsen
35. “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” – Napoleon Hill
36. “Long term travel is not an act of rebellion against society; it’s an act of common sense within society.” – Rolf Potts
37. “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.” – Michelangelo
38. “Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.” – Dalai Lama
39. “People don’t take trips, trips take people.” – John Steinbeck
40. “A person susceptible to “wanderlust” is not so much addicted to movement as committed to transformation.” – Pico Iyer
41. “A year from now you will wish you had started today.” – Karen Lamb
42. “If in doubt, just walk until your day becomes interesting.” – Rolf Potts
43. “Travel is never a matter of money but of courage.” – Paolo Coelho
44. “The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of a mistake.” – Meg Whitman
45. “No matter how much experience you have, how many degrees you have, or how well known you have become — there is always something new to learn. Don’t rest on your past experiences. If you do nothing to improve your skills, you won’t stay where you are.” – Laura Spencer
46. “When you see a fork in the road, take it.” – Yogi Bera
47. “Jobs fill your pocket, but adventures fill your soul.” – Jamie Lyn Beatty
48. “I fear nomads. I am afraid of them and afraid for them too.” – Jane Bowles
49. “Until we perceive the meaning of our past, we remain the mere carriers of ideas, like the Nomads.” – Stephen Gardiner
50. “In a world full of people, only some want to fly. Isn’t that crazy?” – Seal
51. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of someone else’s thinking.” – Steve Jobs
52. “I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine.” – Caskie Stinnett
53. “I’m in love with cities I’ve never been to and people I’ve never met.” – John Green
My Favorite Nomad Quotes
Personally, I’m a sucker for anything Mark Twain, and so my all-time favor nomadic quote is “In 20 years, you will be more disappointed by what you didn’t do than by what you did.”
I also think Helen Keller said it best: life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all.
The beauty of travel and being nomadic is that it expands your horizons. Cheesy, I know, but it’s true.
If you live a life of conformity and never try anything new, you’ll never know what you’re missing out on. They say ignorance is bliss, but I don’t think that’s quite true.
I know that whenever I feel like I’m in a rut, be it with work or something else in life, travel is what revitalizes me and makes me feel fulfilled.
So, if you’re itching to travel and need that extra push, I hope this list of nomadic quotes helps get that fire burning inside of you!
If you have some favorite nomad quotes that didn’t make the list, be sure to mention them down in the comments as well!
Looking for some useful digital nomad resources? Checkout:
