Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I like Nietzsche. I quote him in many of my books. He was born 100 years before me.
Once I've decided to do something, I do usually try to carry it through to fruition.
Albert Frederick Mummery and Chris Bonington are the British climbers I most admire.
Traditional alpinism is to go where the others are not going and to be self-reliant.
I am inclined to think that the realm of mythology is where the Yeti rightly belongs.
Being out on the edge, with everything at risk, is where you learn and grow the most.
I want to solve a climbing problem in the mountains, not in the sporting goods store.
I needed to go . . . the pull of Everest was stronger for me than any force on earth.
I still had the same affection for New Zealand as I've always had. Didn't change at all.
Difficult struggle in mountaineering is our rise above himself, is the voice of freedom.
Challenge is what makes men. It will be the end when men stop looking for new challenges.
I go to the mountains for an adventure and each time I pray I will get up and down again.
Women often focus more on staying friends, which is as important as climbing the mountain.
With practice and focus, you can extend yourself far more than you ever believed possible.
I get older I get more cantankerous, but June [Hillary] gets a bit more cantankerous, too.
The mountains are dangerous. Only an unintelligent person will say they are not dangerous.
I will come again & conquer you because as a mountain you can't grow, but as a human, I can
There are many questions, but I cannot answer because I'm not a businessman, I am a climber.
Adventuring can be for the ordinary person with ordinary qualities, such as I regard myself.
Climbing is not a competition, and you cannot talk in terms of 'greatest,' it means nothing.
Every week someone rings me up wanting to open a new Messner museum, but I'm not interested.
The truth is, I'm just a rough old New Zealander who has enjoyed many challenges in his life.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
People respected my experience, they hire me, they pay me what I am worth to coach their team.
I have discovered that even the mediocre can have adventures and even the fearful can achieve.
Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end.
I scavenged for sensation, sought myself in the rewards of being out there, across the Border.
On Mount Everest it feels as if you are in the womb, but on K2 you are always out on the edge.
The wind is the appalling enemy. It is mind-destroying, physically-destroying, soul-destroying.
I enjoyed climbing with other people, good friends, but I did quite a lot of solo climbing, too.
Relish the challenge of overcoming difficulties that would crush ordinary men...learn to suffer.
...and while ambition sleeps inside of me I content myself with memories of glitter and despair.
In politics, you have to compromise from morning to evening. Democracy is the art of compromise.
I offer my expertise and experience for hire in order to help a group of people reach the summit.
My father had been a Wehrmacht officer in the second world war and was a violent and damaged man.
If it is a shame to be the second man on Mount Everest, then I will have to live with this shame.
Many people have been getting too casual about climbing Everest. I forecast a disaster many times.
To me, it's just not that important whether someone climbs the Eigerwand in ten hours or in three.
I travel to Jakarta, I see what an important country it is. I've been working with them for a year.
I've always hated the danger part of climbing, and it's great to come down again because it's safe.
Isn't a person who can live on nothing much stronger? I try to nurture that transformation in myself.
All the Yeti footprints are all the same bear. The Yeti isn't a fantastic figure. The Yeti is reality.
I think it all comes down to motivation. If you really want to do something, you will work hard for it.
I was 5 when I went up my first 10,000 ft mountain, with my parents, and I have been climbing ever since.
I want to look into the dark spaces in people's souls. At what happens to us when we go to the mountains.
When I held in my hands the remains of Gunther, I had a strong feeling, like a phantom pain of an amputee.
The art of climbing is to go where you go knowing that you could die, but you don't die. That is adventure.
Nothing substitutes a large apprenticeship, a heap of experiences which converts into the base of intuition.
I am a lucky man. I have had a dream and it has come true, and that is not a thing that happens often to men.
I was always at my best when I was learning, when I was curious. When I had yet to see past the next horizon.