Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised.

Take it all in all, I do not believe anybody on earth has a worse time than an Emperor penguin.

The luxuries of civilization satisfy only those wants which they themselves create.

And I tell you, if you have the desire for knowledge and the power to give it physical expression, go out and explore.

The mind of a horse is a very limited concern, relying almost entirely upon memory. He rivals our politicians in that he has little real intellect. Consequently, when the pony was faced with conditions different from those to which he was accustomed, he showed little adaptability.

Exploration is the physical expression of the Intellectual Passion. And I tell you, if you have the desire for knowledge and the power to give it physical expression, go out and explore.... If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg.

In Antarctica you get to know people so well that in comparison you do not seem to know the people in civilization at all.