I can't understand why men make all this fuss about Everest-it's only a mountain.

Technique and ability alone do not get you to the top; it is the willpower that is the most important. This willpower you cannot buy with money or be given by others... it rises from your heart.

Everest for me, and I believe for the world, is the physical and symbolic manifestation of overcoming odds to achieve a dream

I can't understand why men make all this fuss about Everest-it's only a mountain.

There was never a question in my mind that I wanted to climb that mountain, no matter what other people said.