What do you do when you’re feeling down and out? Some people might turn to a friend or family member for comfort, while others might seek out solace in nature. If you find yourself in the latter group, then you’ll definitely want to check out this compilation of desert quotes. From Buddha to Bertrand Russell, these writers and thinkers all have something insightful to say about life in the desert.

The best desert quotes

1. Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while. — Max Lucado

2. Do not want things to turn out as they seem best to you but as God pleases. Then you will be free from confusion and thankful in prayer. — The Desert Fathers

3. That desert of loneliness and recrimination that men call love. — Samuel Beckett

4. Who cares if no one likes me? one day i will become rich and you will want me then. — Mike Desert

5. For without you, I swear, the town Has become like a prison to me. Distraction and the mountain And the desert, all I desire. — Rumi

6. Are you in a desert? Then be a camel! Be compatible with the reality! — Mehmet Murat ildan

7. Use every man after his desert, and who should ‘scape whipping? — Shakespeare

8. He’d lived in the desert all his life, and he loved it. He was its child. It was his home. — Tony Taylor, Counters

9. The desert is harsh, but persevering flowers flourish. — Matshona Dhliwayo

10. The desert is harsh, but persevering flowers flourish. — Matshona Dhliwayo

11. One man carries salvation and damnation from the desert. — Matthew Sawyer, Pazuzu–Manifestation

12. Too much good fortune can make you smug and unaware. Happiness should be like an oasis, the greener for the desert that surrounds it. — Rachel Field

13. When they realized they were in the desert, they built a religion to worship thirstiness. — Zach Weinersmith

14. Full many a flower is born to blush unseen And waste its sweetness on the desert air. — Thomas Gray

15. Can’t trust no one else to do what you won’t do for yourself. — Peter V. Brett, The Desert Spear

16. Do not you see that every misfortune is misconduct; that every honour is desert; that every effort is an insolence of your own?…You carry your fortune in your own hand. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

17. Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars–mere globs of gas atoms. I, too, can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? — Richard P. Feynman

18. I love Sufism as I love beautiful poetry, but it is not the answer. Sufism is like a mirage in the desert. It says to you, come and sit, relax and enjoy yourself for a while. — Naguib Mahfouz

19. Use every man after his desert, and who should scape whipping? — William Shakespeare

20. Weakness shown is worse than weakness felt. — Peter V. Brett, The Desert Spear

21. If a flower can flourish in the desert, you can flourish anywhere. — Matshona Dhliwayo

22. We feel free because we lack the very language to articulate our unfreedom. — Slavoj Žižek, Welcome to the Desert of the Real: Five Essays on September 11 and Related Dates

23. Can’t trust no one else to do what you won’t do for yourself. — Peter V. Brett, The Desert Spear

24. Three people marooned on a desert island would soon reinvent politics. — Mason Cooley

25. The new earth will be like Eden. ..the deserts will gush with water. … A beautiful and bountiful land will flourish. — Paul P. Enns

26. Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars–mere globs of gas atoms. I, too, can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? — Richard P. Feynman

27. The people who were honored in The bible were The false prophets. it was The ones we call The prophets who were jailed and driven into The desert, and so on. — Noam Chomsky

28. A flower blooming in the desert proves to the world that adversity, no matter how great, can be overcome. — Matshona Dhliwayo

29. I love Sufism as I love beautiful poetry, but it is not the answer. Sufism is like a mirage in the desert. It says to you, come and sit, relax and enjoy yourself for a while. — Naguib Mahfouz

30. He felt the urge to go into the desert, to see if it’s silence held the answers to his questions. — Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

31. Use every man according to his desert and who should ‘scape whipping? Use them after your own honor and dignity, the less they deserve … the more merit in your bounty. — William Shakespeare

32. The Great Arizona Desert is full of the bleaching bones of people who waited for me to start something. — Robert Benchley

33. The people who were honored in The bible were The false prophets. it was The ones we call The prophets who were jailed and driven into The desert, and so on. — Noam Chomsky

34. Painted desert, ocean of colorsun’s worshiper, moon’s loverpicture of a coyote’s voicesandbox of angels, another toy. — Trine Daely, Life Games

35. [h]ope, like a desert aloe. Hope, stubborn and bitter to the taste. That hides water. That bears the drought. An ugly plant with the power to heal. — Sofia Samatar, The Winged Histories

36. I almost moved mountains, touched rivers, impressed deserts and motivated skies, but I never made it to your heart. — M.F. Moonzajer, LOVE, HATRED AND MADNESS

37. I keep thinking I’m going to miss it back in Los Angeles. But I don’t. The only thing I miss is driving out in the desert in the Southwest. — Tim Burton

38. The ought to be a worldwide cultural taskforce that just stops you when you have ideas like combining The Red Desert with an armored car heist movie. — Steven Soderbergh

39. Alzheimer’s … it is a barren disease, as empty and lifeless as a desert. It is a thief of hearts and souls and memories. — Nicholas Sparks

40. The desert takes our dreams away from us, and they don’t always return. — Paulo Coelho

41. He felt the urge to go into the desert, to see if it’s silence held the answers to his questions. — Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

42. A person might be an expert in any field of knowledge or a master of many material skills and accomplishments. But without inner cleanliness his brain is a desert waste. — Sathya Sai Baba

43. The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed — Stephen King, The Gunslinger

44. What goes on between a man and his missus is nobody’s business — especially where desert toppin’s involved.

45. The Great Arizona Desert is full of the bleaching bones of people who waited for me to start something. — Robert Benchley

46. I will You, in all, Myself, with promise to never desert you, To which I sign my name. — Walt Whitman

47. The desert, where there is the communal book of moonlight. We were among the rumour of wells. In the palace of winds. — Michael Ondaatje

48. I didn’t spend my whole summer training with Anwar and him on a deserted island in the Baltic sea to stand here and do nothing. — Rebekkah Ford, Dark Spirits

49. Who cares if no one likes me? one day i will become rich and you will want me then. — Mike Desert

50. Words used to be all I had. Now even they have deserted me. — Trishna B. made it up myself

Conclusion

“The desert is an unforgiving place, but it also has its own unique beauty. As these quotes about the desert demonstrate, it is a place of both admiration and fear, of both challenge and solace. Whether you’re looking for a source of inspiration or a reminder of the power of nature, these quotes will help you appreciate the desert for the extraordinary place it is.”