Mountaineering Quotes

• There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.

  Ernest Hemingway

  Sports, Motor Racing, Games

  "Bullfighting Also Rises -- For Now" by Paul Wachter, www.esquire.com. February 14, 2013.

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• Life's a bit like mountaineering - never look down.

  Edmund Hillary

  Looks, Bits

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• Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.

  David McCullough Jr.

  Inspirational, Climbing, Air

  David McCullough's Commencement Address at Wellesley High School in Wellesley, Massachusetts, www.thedailybeast.com. June 9, 2012.

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• May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.

  Edward Abbey

  Inspirational, Nature, Adventure

  Edward Abbey (1988). “Desert Solitaire”, p.12, University of Arizona Press

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  In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.

  John Muir

  Nature, Adventure, Garden

  John Muir (2015). “STEEP TRAILS: California - Utah - Nevada - Washington - Oregon - The Grand Canyon: Adventure Memoirs, Travel Sketches, Nature Essays and Wilderness Studies from the author of The Yosemite, Our National Parks, A Thousand-mile Walk to the Gulf & Picturesque California”, p.67, e-artnow

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• Before the deed comes the thought. Before the achievement comes the dream. Every mountain we climb, we first climb in our mind.

  Royal Robbins

  Inspirational, Dream, Climbing

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• 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.

  Junko Tabei

  Motivational, Perseverance, Nature

  "Protecting the Places We Climb" by Phil Powers, www.huffingtonpost.com. May 22, 2013.

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  Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

  T. S. Eliot

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  T.S. Eliot (2015). “The Poems of T. S. Eliot Volume I: Collected and Uncollected Poems”, p.1250, Faber & Faber

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• Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.

  Anatoli Boukreev

  Ambition, Climbing, Practice

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• 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.

  Walter Bonatti

  Men, Climbing, Soul

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• The mountains are calling and I must go.

  John Muir

  Nature, Climbing, Hiking

  John Muir, Terry Gifford (1996). “John Muir: His Life and Letters and Other Writings”, p.190, The Mountaineers Books

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• In a sense everything that is exists to climb. All evolution is a climbing towards a higher form. Climbing for life as it reaches towards the consciousness, towards the spirit. We have always honored the high places because we sense them to be the homes of gods. In the mountains there is the promise of... something unexplainable. A higher place of awareness, a spirit that soars. So we climb... and in climbing there is more than a metaphor; there is a means of discovery.

  Rob Parker

  Motivational, Home, Mean

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  After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

  Nelson Mandela

  Inspirational, Motivational, Inspiring

  Twitter post from Oct 27, 2015

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• Because in the end, you won't remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain

  Jack Kerouac

  Motivational, Wisdom, Travel

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  Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.

  John Muir

  Travel, Home, Tired

  "Nature Writings: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, My First Summer in the Sierra, the Mountains of California, Stickeen, Selected Essays".

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• Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it.

  Edmund Hillary

  Attitude, Science, Climbing

  "Wise Guys: Brilliant Thoughts and Big Talk from Real Men". Book by Allan Zullo, p. 5, 2005.

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• What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money.

  George Leigh Mallory

  Life, Motivational, Travel

  "We knocked the bastard off" by David Fickling, www.theguardian.com. March 13, 2003.

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• The greatest hazard in life is to risk NOTHING.

  William Arthur Ward

  Life, Deep Love, Climbing

  William Arthur Ward, “Risk”

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• The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he cannot learn, feel change, grow or live.

  William Arthur Ward

  Climbing, Risk, Suffering

  William Arthur Ward, “Risk”

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• Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.

  Ed Viesturs

  Sports, Nature, Travel

  Ed Viesturs, David Roberts (2011). “The Will to Climb: Obsession and Commitment and the Quest to Climb Annapurna--the World's Deadliest Peak”, p.87, Crown

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• Big mountains are a completely different world: snow, ice, rocks, sky, and thin air. You cannot conquer them, only rise to their height for a short time; and for that they demand a great deal. The struggle is not with the enemy, or a competitor like in sports, but with yourself, with the feelings of weakness and inadequacy. That struggle appeals to me. It is why I became a mountaineer.

  Anatoli Boukreev

  Sports, Struggle, Rocks

  Anatoli Boukreev (2015). “Above the Clouds: The Diaries of a High-Altitude Mountaineer”, p.4, St. Martin's Griffin

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• The fleeting hour of life of those who love the hills is quickly spent, but the hills are eternal. Always there will be the lonely ridge, the dancing beck, the silent forest; always there will be the exhilaration of the summits. These are for the seeking, and those who seek and find while there is still time will be blessed both in mind and body.

  Alfred Wainwright

  Inspirational, Life, Beauty

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• To the sober person adventurous conduct often seems insanity.

  Aristotle

  Climbing, Insanity, Anarchy

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• When you ride your bike, you're working your legs, but your mind is on a treadmill. When you play chess, your mind is clicking along, but your body is stagnating. Climbing brings it together in a beautiful, magical way. The adrenaline is flowing, and it's flowing all the time.

  Pat Ament

  Beautiful, Climbing, Play

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• You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So... get on your way!

  Dr. Seuss

  Inspirational, Life, Positive

  Theodor Seuss Geisel, “Oh, The Places You'll Go”

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