Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Climbing had captured my soul.
Ich kann nicht mehr (I can do no more).
Everyone has their own Everest to climb
According to your medical checkup, you are dead.
I am too slow to be a good climber, so I film instead.
I can't understand why men make all this fuss about Everest-it's only a mountain.
But we can’t control the environment; all we can control is the way we react to it.
Don't ever underestimate the importance of treating others with respect and kindness.
Keep your eyes wide open in the darkest of times. Only then you can rely on shooting stars.
What is behind you is forgotten. You can't remember danger and difficulty when it is behind you
Just a reminder - a guidebook is no substitute for skill, experience, judgment and lots of tension.
Climbing is not a battle with the elements, nor against the law of gravity. It's a battle against oneself.
There was never a question in my mind that I wanted to climb that mountain, no matter what other people said.
If in normal conditions it is skill, which counts, in such extreme situations, it is the spirit, which saves.
I've always been incapable of accepting fate, and I've always refused to die, and that has helped me to survive.
Everest for me, and I believe for the world, is the physical and symbolic manifestation of overcoming odds to achieve a dream
Though my father was a sirdar, he always carried loads. It is hard for someone who is walking unburdened to generate in others an enthusiasm for work.
The mountain is a mirror, where climbers look to find themselves. They discover their frailty, take heart from their strengths, drink deep of the insights.
These days I love to take in the sunset because every time I do so I remember how lucky I am to be alive. That's a great relationship to have with the setting sun.
As climbers, we need to sacrifice our comfort, our safety, and arguably our sanity, as a tithe to the mountain...We need the mountains but the mountains do not need us.
Each climber loses one finger or toe once in a while. This is a small but important reason for Polish climbers success. Western climbers haven't lost as many fingers or toes.
I don’t deny that there can be an element of escapism in mountaineering, but this should never overshadow its real essence, which is not escape but victory over your own human frailty.
Technique and ability alone do not get you to the top; it is the willpower that is the most important. This willpower you cannot buy with money or be given by others... it rises from your heart.
The mountains have rules. they are harsh rules, but they are there, and if you keep to them you are safe. A mountain is not like men. A mountain is sincere. The weapons to conquer it exist inside you, inside your soul.
In the mountains, worldly attachments are left behind, and in the absence of material distractions, we are opened up to spiritual thought. We should be attempting to carry the spiritual experience of the mountains with us everywhere.
I was attracted to climbing mountains because of the physical dangers, but also the challenges, like 'mental fortitude, physical fortitude, judgement.' It's the intensity of the experience, at a sustained level. The experience is incredibly intense because it is so dangerous.
We [climbers] demonstrate in the most stunning way of all - at the risk of our lives - that there is no limit to the effort man can demand of himself. This quality is the basis of all human achievementit can never be proved enough. I consider that we climbers - that I - serve all humanity. We prove that there is no limit to what man can do.
Never let failure discourage you. Every time you get to the base of a mountain (literal or metaphorical), you're presented with a new opportunity to challenge yourself, to push your limits beyond what you thought possible, to learn from climbers on the trail ahead of you, and to take in some amazing views. Your performance on the mountain you climbed last week or last month or last year doesn't matter - because it's all about what you are doing right now.
The solitary ascent of the Dru had the immediate effect of expanding the horizons of my ideas about mountaineering. It made me aware of possibilities well in advance of the times, which were characterized by very restricted methods. This was how the superb pyramid of K2 surfaced once more in the list of my projects. But I chose K2 as a way for giving concrete form to my new concept of mountaineering: to climb the second highest mountain in the world solo, alpine style, and without oxygen.
For me, the value of a climb is the sum of three inseparable elements, all equally important: aesthetics, history, and ethics. Together they form the whole basis of my concept of alpinism. Some people see no more in climbing mountains than an escape from the harsh realities of modern times. This is not only uninformed but unfair. I don’t deny that there can be an element of escapism in mountaineering, but this should never overshadow its real essence, which is not escape but victory over your own human frailty.