Challenge is what makes men. It will be the end when men stop looking for new challenges.

Motivation is the single most important factor in any sort of success.

June [Hillary] is a very strong influence in my life and particularly now in my ancient years there is no doubt at all: if there's a decision to be made, quite often June is the one who makes it.

I think Himalayan climbers tend to mature fairly late. I think most of the successful Himalayan climbers have ranged from 28 to just over 40, really.

Environmental problems are really social problems anyway. They begin with people as the cause and end with people as the victims

June [Hillary] had been doing all these things - the Himalayas and all the rest of it - so we had done things together for a long time, and, particularly as far as our Sherpas were concerned, we had a very sound, I think, philosophy. So that made it very easy for us to agree on what should be done.

It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.