19 quotes
On my expedition there was no way that you would have left a man under a rock to die. It simply would not have happened.
I am hell-bent for the South Pole — God willing and crevasses permitting.
Better if he had said something natural like, "Jesus, here we are."
Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it.
Wise Guys : Brilliant Thoughts and Big Talk from Real Men (2005)
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.
Having just paid our respects to the highest mountain in the world, I then had no choice but to urinate on it.
View from the Summit Simon and Schuster (2000)
I didn't worry about getting Tenzing to take a photograph of me — as far as I knew, he had never taken a photograph before, and the summit of Everest was hardly the place to show him how.
I think the whole attitude towards climbing Mount Everest has become rather horrifying. The people just want to get to the top. They don't give a damn for anybody else who may be in distress and it doesn't impress me at all that they leave someone lying under a rock to die.
The explorers of the past were great men and we should honour them. But let us not forget that their spirit lives on. It is still not hard to find a man who will adventure for the sake of a dream or one who will search, for the pleasure of searching, not for what he may find.
In some ways I believe I epitomise the average New Zealander: I have modest abilities, I combine these with a good deal of determination, and I rather like to succeed.
I became a Hindu. I was very close to the Hindu ethic. It was a great spiritual experience. ... I believe a man can make his own destiny through his work and effort.
You don't have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things — to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals. The intense effort, the giving of everything you've got, is a very pleasant bonus.
Reaching the summit of a mountain gives great satisfaction, but nothing for me has been more rewarding in life than the result of our climb on Everest, when we have devoted ourselves to the welfare of our Sherpa friends.
Great Climbs: A Celebration of World Mountaineering (1994)
My solar plexus was tight with fear as I ploughed on. Halfway up I stopped, exhausted. I could look down 10,000 feet between my legs, and I have never felt more insecure. Anxiously I waved Tenzing up to me.
High Adventure : The True Story of the First Ascent of Everest (1955)
Some day I’m going to climb Everest.
Well, we knocked the bastard off!
We didn’t know if it was humanly possible to reach the top of Mt. Everest. And even using oxygen as we were, if we did get to the top, we weren’t at all sure whether we wouldn’t drop dead or something of that nature.
It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.
Disputed
People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.
Disputed