The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this; What is the use of climbing Mount Everest? and my answer must at once be, it is no use. There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever.

Because it's there. (when asked why he wanted to climb Everest)

We don't live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means, and that is what life is for.

The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this; What is the use of climbing Mount Everest? and my answer must at once be, it is no use. There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever.

Half the charm of climbing mountains is born in visions preceding this experience - visions of what is mysterious, remote, inaccessible.

We will stomp to the top with the wind in our teeth.

One comes to bless the absolute bareness, feeling that here is a pure beauty of form, a kind of ultimate harmony.