park benches Interesting quotes about parks and the joy of relaxing on a park bench

Few things in life are as great as a local or national park. Parks offer a respite from the world of traffic jams, office cubicles and artificial light. They give humans a way to reconnect and recharge with nature which is in our DNA. And they belong to each and every one of us.

Here are a few of our favorite quotes about parks. Pass them on and be sure to support your local parks department and the National Park Service.

  1. "If you have found a quiet bench in a quiet park and sat down, be sure you had a very profitable day!" ― Mehmet Murat ildan
  2. "I fell for a girl who reminded me of the park benches where I've spent hours writing about love and sadness." ― Nitya Prakash
  3. "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." - John Muir
  4. "Any day spent in a national park is a good day." - Chris Nicholson
  5. "At some point in life, the world's beauty becomes enough." - Toni Morrison
  6. "City parks serve, day in and day out, as the primary green spaces for the majority of Americans." - Bruce Babbitt
  7. "It is one great purpose of the park to supply to the hundreds of thousands of tired workers, who have no opportunity to spend their summers in the country. A specimen of God's handiwork that shall be to them, inexpensively, what a month or two in the White Mountain or the Adirondacks is, at great cost, to those in easier circumstances." - Frederick Law Olmsted
  8. "If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere." - Vincent Van Gogh
  9. "National parks and reserves are an integral aspect of the intelligent use of natural resources. It is the course of wisdom to set aside an ample portion of our natural resources as national parks and reserves, thus ensuring that future generations may know the majesty of the earth as we know it today." - John F. Kennedy
  10. "Park service today exemplifies one of the highest traditions of public service." - Stewart Udall
  11. "The scenic ideals that surround even our national parks are carriers of a nostalgia for heavenly bliss and eternal calmness." - Robert Smithson
  12. "When I'm in London, I love to visit Kensington gardens and just sit in the park and read a good book." - Natalie Imbruglia
  13. "National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst." - Wallace Stegner
  14. "Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong." - George Carlin
  15. "I may be a lifelong 'downtowner' but Central Park really is the most amazing and the most beautiful part of New York City." - Moby
  16. "The national park idea has been nurtured by each succeeding generation of Americans. Today, across our land, the National Park System represents America at its best. Each park contributes to a deeper understanding of the history of the United States and our way of life; of the natural processes which have given form to our land, and to the enrichment of the environment in which we live." - George B. Hartzog, Jr.

Note: For nearly 20 years The Park and Facilities Catalog has been an advocate for parks and staff members love their local and national parks!