59 Train Quotes For Those Who Love To Travel

By Clifton Sankofa

School Leader, Language Arts Expert & Master Quote Curator

Published October 30, 2023

Travel enthusiasts and people who appreciate machines will love these quotes about trains.

Who does not love trains?

Riding on a train and exploring new scenery is a fascinating pastime.

There is much to be seen from a train’s window; it is like you are riding in a separate universe.

Picture the Hogwarts Express whisking us away to the magical world of Harry Potter!

Or the iconic words of Casey Jones, the famous locomotive engineer.

These train quotes will fuel your wanderlust and remind you that life is not just about the destination but also the thrilling ride along the tracks of possibility.

What are the benefits of reading these train quotes?

Author Elisha Cooper once said, “The train is a small world moving through a larger world.”

Trains have been around longer than you may have realized.

A study by the University of Oxford found that train travel is more environmentally friendly than flying or driving and can also reduce stress and increase feelings of well-being in passengers.

This makes it a great option for those looking for a more relaxing and sustainable way to explore new places.

German engineers built the first trains in 1550 using pathways of wooden rails called wagonways, the prototype of modern-day train and rail systems.

Brilliant people placed rails on dirt roads allowing horse-drawn carts and wagons to move along more quickly.

Much about train transportation has evolved since then.

It has been about 200 years since the design of the first mechanical locomotives.

Today, there are bullet trains that reach speeds of 300 miles per hour.

Insightful train quotes

The University of California, Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center found that train travel is the safest mode of transportation, with a significantly lower risk of accidents and fatalities than driving or flying.

This is thanks to the advanced safety features and regulations in place to ensure the well-being of passengers and staff.

1. “Trains are wonderful.” — Agatha Christie

2. “Trains, like time and tide, stop for no one.” — Jules Verne

3. “Many times, the wrong train took me to the right place.” — Paulo Coelho

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4. “The train is a small world moving through a larger world.” — Elisha Cooper

5. “If you live up against train tracks, it can make your life a living hell.” — Ted Leo

6. “Beautiful little trains; they’re my favorite thing in the world.” — Callan McAuliffe

7. “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” — Will Rogers

8. “Leadership is inspiring people. Management is keeping the trains running on time.” — Andy Dunn

9. “Everybody says they want to be free. Take the train off the tracks, and it’s free – but it can’t go anywhere.” — Zig Ziglar

10. “Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Train quotes about life

According to a study by the University of Surrey, train travel can benefit mental health. The rhythmic motion and scenery provide a soothing and relaxing experience that can reduce stress and anxiety.

This adds to the growing body of research on the health benefits of train travel, particularly for those looking for a more calming and restorative mode of transportation.

11. “Our life is a constant journey, from birth to death.” — Paulo Coelho

12. “Driving the train doesn’t set its course. The real job is laying the track.” — Ed Catmull

13. “The trains always arrive at your station. The question is which one to take?” — Mehmet Murat Ildan

14. “If your train’s on the wrong track, every station you come to is the wrong station.” — Bernard Malamud

15. “Be like a train; go in the rain, go in the sun, go in the storm, go in the dark tunnels!” —Mehmet Murat Ildan

16. “I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.” — Oscar Wilde

17. “If the workers took a notion they could stop all speeding trains; every ship upon the ocean they can tie with mighty chains.” — Joe Hill

18. “I like trains. I like their rhythm, and I like the freedom of being suspended between two places, all anxieties of purpose taken care of.” — Anna Funder, Stasiland

19. “Time goes faster the more hollow it is. Lives with no meaning go straight past you, like trains that don’t stop at your station.” — Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

20. “Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; let fortune’s bubbles rise and fall; who sows a field, or trains a flower, or plants a tree, is more than all.” — John Greenleaf Whittier

Trains quotes for travelers

21. “Globalization feels like a runaway train, out of control.” — Gordon Brown

22. “All I wanted was to get some nice pictures of trains at night.” — O. Winston Link

23. “Be like a train; concentrate on your road and go with no hesitation!” — Mehmet Murat Ildan

24. “Nothing gives me as much pleasure as traveling. I love getting on trains and boats and planes.” — Alan Rickman

25. “I also have a huge collection of original stainless steel Thomas the Tank Engine train toys.” — Callan McAuliffe

26. “Apart from that, I am traveling most of the time. I write in airports, trains, hotel rooms. I can write anywhere.” — Jo Nesbo

27. “To travel by train is to see nature and human beings, towns and churches, and rivers, in fact, to see life.” — Agatha Christie

28. “The landscape changes, the people change, our needs change, but the train keeps moving. Life is the train, not the station.” — Paulo Coelho

29. “I also take my bike on trains to meetings in other parts of the country, which enables me to see other cities and the other parts of the country.” — Jeremy Corbyn

30. “Servers never sleep, nor does air conditioning during hot nights, and in Asia’s megacities, subways and electric trains take only brief naps between midnight and 5 a.m.” — Vaclav Smil

Train quotes about train tracks

31. “The trains were the beating heart of the New York graffiti scene.” — Adam Mansbach

32. “If art is to have a special train, the critic must keep some seats reserved on it.” — Oscar Wilde, The Artist As Critic

33. “Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

34. “Agriculture is one of the biggest causes of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Cars? Planes? Trains? Nope. Cow farts.” — Zazie Beetz

35. “The train is roaring toward you, and the villain is twirling his mustache, and you’re fussing that he’s tied you to the tracks with the wrong kind of rope.” — Robin McKinley

36. “This train is alive with things that should be seen and heard. It’s a living, breathing something — you just have to want to learn its rhythm.” — David Baldacci, The Christmas Train

37. “The train you have been waiting all your life may not stop at your station; the best thing to survive such an emotional disaster is to give a chance to the next train which will stop at your station!” — Mehmet Murat Ildan

38. “Life is a train ride, and at the many stations along the route, people important to us debark, never to get aboard again, until, by the end of the journey, we sit in a passenger car where most of the seats are empty.” — Dean Koontz

39. “Trains are beautiful. They take people to places they’ve never been, faster than they could ever go themselves. Everyone who works on trains knows they have personalities. They’re like people. They have their own mysteries.” — Sam Starbuck, The Dead Isle

40. “As long as you know in which station and at what hour you should wait, which train to take, and if necessary, when and where to get off that train to take a different line, to take a different train, you shall be accepted as a smart traveler!” — Mehmet Murat Ildan

Funny train quotes

41. “I’ve missed a lot of trains in my life, and another one always comes.” — Lapo Elkann

42. “Everyone else trains just as hard as well, and that there really is no such a thing as overnight success.” — Julie Benz

43. “When I did ‘Young Guns II,’ I hung out with Emilio and Kiefer, and I once took a trip with Rob Lowe – we jumped trains.” — Christian Slater

44. “So if domestic flights are taxed, it should be on the absolute condition that the money is plowed into improving the alternatives, such as trains.” — Zac Goldsmith

45. “I take a lot of trains, so I love reading on the train. I get really annoyed when there are no delays because I just want to keep reading and finish my book.” — Zoe Ball

46. “I like marketplaces. I like train stations; I like being in trains. I like airports. I like walking down the street with a pen in my hand, writing, writing, writing.” — Juan Felipe Herrera

47. “Many Americans have a romanticized view of trains, rooted in a bygone era of elaborately adorned rail cars lit by flickering gas lamps and pulled by smoke-belching steam locomotives.” — Alan Huffman

48. “Oh, the Irish were building the railroads down through Mexico, through Chihuahua. They finished the railroads when they finished out in the West Coast, and they went down and put the trains into Mexico.” — Anthony Quinn

49. “I usually write away from home, in coffee shops, on trains, on planes, in friends’ houses. I like places where there’s stuff going on that you can lift your eyes, see something interesting, overhear a conversation.” — Jonathan Safran Foer

50. “Many trains arrive at your station; treat them good whether they stay or leave!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan

51. “Trains induce such terrible anxiety. They image the possibility of total and irrevocable failure.” ― Iris Murdoc

52. “Lord, that Hollywood train, forever coming round the bend!” ― James Baldwin

53. “The station was crowded by the time the express pulled up. I felt then, as I do now, that there is no joy like the arrival of a train” ― Elizabeth Kostova

54. All of my life, trains had been coming and going, interrupting Ever’s daily life with their loud disregard.” ― Matthew Aaron Goodman

55. “So when I watch trains, it makes me think about how much movement there is in the world.” ― Jeff Zentner

56. “The train may fall in love with a station, but it has to go and it goes!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan

57. “If you sleep on the train, you will miss your station; if you sleep at the station, you will miss your train!” ― Mehmet Murat ilda

58. “The train hit her with the sound of a meat-filled hefty bag smacking the pavement, and the effect was much the same, I guess.” ― Warren Moore

59. “He who is in love with the station will never be attracted by the trains!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan

What did you learn from these train quotes?

By the time the 1700s came about, iron had replaced wooden rails and wagon wheels.

Wagonways evolved into tramways.

People used them for these ventures, but that changed in the 1800 hundreds with the invention of the steam-powered locomotive.

American author Alan Huffman laments, “Many Americans have a romanticized view of trains, rooted in a bygone era of elaborately adorned rail cars lit by flickering gas lamps and pulled by smoke-belching steam locomotives.”

The golden era of trains was between 1880 to 1920, when railroads were the most popular and essential mode of transportation in the United States.

Early trains burned coal, wood, and oil to produce steam to drive the trains.

Much of the country’s infrastructure for locomotives is over half a century old.