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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.

— Edmund Hillary High Adventure : The True Story of the First Ascent of Everest (1955)

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Fear

More quotes by Edmund Hillary

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.

All Edmund Hillary quotes →

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To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

Bertrand Russell Marriage and Morals (1929)

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped.

Robert Anton Wilson

Most intellectual people do not believe in God, but they fear him just the same.

Wilhelm Reich Philosophy : An Introduction to the Art of Wondering (2005)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Edmund Hillary (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.