According to the moral absolutism that characterizes McCandless's beliefs, a challenge in which a successful outcome is assured isn't a challenge at all.

That's what was great about him. He tried. Not many do.

You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living.

The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences.

Most climbers aren't in fact deranged, they're just infected with a particularly virulent strain of the Human Condition.

To the contrary: His life hummed with meaning and purpose. But the meaning he wrested from existence lay beyond the comfortable path: McCandless distrusted the value of things that came easily.

When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God’s light shines through you.