"Maybe it’s the sun’s first light on these ancient cliffs, or the heavy current of the river, the feeling that this place exists outside of human time. But here, I start to feel like myself again." — Hilary Oliver She Explores, Episode 3, "Being Here: How the Outdoors Make Us Feel"
"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order." — John Burroughs
"To pit oneself against the mountain is necessary for every climber: to pit oneself merely against other players, and make a race of it, is to reduce to the level of a game what is essentially an experience… the mere setting up of a record is of very minor importance. What he values is a task that, demanding of him all he has and is, absorbs and so releases him entirely." — Nan Shepherd The Living Mountain
"We’re all aging—what can we do with that? How can we look at it differently? How can we take care of ourselves, push ourselves, or just constantly work on getting to know ourselves better?" — Hilaree Nelson
"I believe that fear is the most powerful and detrimental emotion in life and the biggest culprit keeping us from our dreams...Fear can keep you alive, but it can also keep you from living." — Jeremy Jones The Art of Shralpinism
"The journey is the reward...Embracing the journey, focusing on things in my control, accepting what I have no control over, acknowledging missteps, doing the best with the hand I am dealt, and focusing on the process not the end result—this is the essential mindset." — Jeremy Jones The Art of Shralpinism
"There's usually a great outcome if you train your mind to look for one." — Jeremy Jones The Art of Shralpinism
"What surprises me most is 'Man,' because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices his money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he doesn't enjoy the present; the result being he doesn't live in the present or the future; he lives as if he's never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived." — The Dalai Lama
"Focusing on safety, or security, is the biggest inhibition to having a new adventure... To hide from the exposure of our circumstance is also to hide from the beauty of it." — Lucas Roman Alpinist Magazine, Issue 81, "Exposure"
"I couldn't reach this moment any sooner than now, because I've needed all my knowledge and experience to be standing here." — Jeremy Jones The Art of Shralpinism
"Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward." — Oscar Wilde
"...each footstep isn't just a means to an end but a unique event in itself...To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top." — Robert M. Pirsig Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
"Don't get caught up in what others are doing—we all have our own paths, our own losses and wins. For me, curiosity and wonder are the driving forces. Curiosity is a powerful thing." — Jeremy Jones The Art of Shralpinism
"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." — African proverb
"People are linked, not ranked, with each other, with nature and with the universe." — Gloria Steinem
"Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away. To hell with that, shake the tree and knock the great sloth down on his ass." — Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451
"There’s always something to look at if you open your eyes." — 5th Doctor Doctor Who, "Kinda"
"If you try to be right instead of being kind, you will be remembered as neither." — Jimmy Funkhouser via Brendan Leonard Semi-Rad, "One of the Smartest Things Anyone Has Ever Said to Me"
"I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes." — Charles Swindoll
"We sometimes think we have a lot of bad news, but what we often have are small problems plus a huge amount of first-world entitlement." — Brendan Leonard Adventure Journal, "The Not-So-Bad Bad Day"
