"[ironically] Do what you love, but stay on the assembly line. There’s no time to find what you love, you should be building your credit score. Take risks, but don’t be foolish. Believe in yourself, but only if you’ve proven you should...Don’t embarrass yourself. Don’t waste time at a job you hate, but magically manifest money to leave that job and chase a dream. Got it? Perfect." — Jedidiah Jenkins To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret
"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
"I know that I could, under ordinary circumstances, accumulate wealth and obtain a fair position in society, and I am arrived at an age that requires that I should choose some definite course for life. … I brooded on the bread problem, so troublesome to wanderers, trying to believe that I might learn to live like the wild animals, gleaning nourishment here and there, sauntering and climbing in joyful independence of money or baggage. But I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news. It feels important to keep close to Nature’s heart and break clear away, once in awhile, and spend a week in the wild to Wash your spirit clean." — John Muir via Samuel Hall Young Alaska Days with John Muir
"You see, the thing is, I had every reason to stay. To trudge on at my “grown up” job, remain in the comfort of my home, enjoy the consolation that my friends are just a text away, and basking in the glory of exploring the Northwest wonderland. Then it began. It started out as a faint whisper—a fleeting thought. As time passed, the murmur grew to a soft voice. I could make out what it was saying, “dream, run, live, and never look back.” I tossed it a bit of attention, but decided to reduce the “thought” to an unrealistic, fanciful whim. One afternoon, my entire being was flooded by something similar to a thunderous roar. As it settled into a calm, I recognized it as the call I had ignored so many times before. “Come,” it said. I was overwhelmed with a sensation, a resolve— it’s the kind that everyone feels, but only a few dare to answer. It’s what makes us the “wild ones”. It’s the call of the wild and untamed—an invitation to live. … Some people are calling it a “mid-life crisis”. Others are referring to it as a “life-altering” experience, questioning “are you ready for something like this?” Fortunately, a lot of people are wonderfully supportive. Me? I’m just going through the motions. This whole escapade might seem outlandish, but it is anything but impossible. Call it what you want, but to me, this is the idea… the feeling… the calling… the ultimate adventure. We are the “wild ones”, and we say “yes, and amen” to every crazy invitation that life throws at us." — Lisa Dougherty Stay Wild Magazine, Spring 2015, "The Conscious Kind Project"
"Luck is simply preparedness meets opportunity." — Unknown
"One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am—a reluctant enthusiast….a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards." — Edward Abbey
"People often ask “Why?” and I wonder – why not? I’m not anyone special. I am just someone who believed in herself. Someone who would never have been able to spend the rest of my life standing still in one place, dreaming of being somewhere different, wondering if I was capable. I know the future me will never question why she did any of these things, she will just be glad she did." — Alex Mason Adventure Journal, "Getting Out to Get Out of a Stale Life"
"I was in these other jobs and I just wasn’t feeling totally fulfilled. They were great organizations with great people, but it just didn’t make my heart sing. I’d come to terms with that. I was grateful and happy for what I had, and was realizing that not everyone was obsessed with their jobs and that’s totally okay, and I gained from it what I could. But I really clocked in in the morning and clocked out at night, and then I started living my life from the hours between sitting at my desk." — Annie Nyborg She Explores, Episode 34, "When to Hold On (And When to Let Go)"
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader." — John Quincy Adams
"Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality." — Warren Bennis
"Your life’s work doesn’t have to be the same as your job. I learned the importance of embracing your passions in your free time." — Gale Straub She Explores, Episode 4, "Origin Story"
"I’m not a brand, I’m a human." — Amanda Sandlin She Explores, Episode 5, "Creatives on the Road"
"Don’t lament so much about how your career is going to turn out. You don’t have a career. You have a life." — Cheryl Strayed Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
"It’s not about me, it’s about the person or place in the photo." — Claire Giordano "Documenting Adventure" workshop, Portland, 2018
"Art is work." — Unknown
"Women are invited to join the party at base and advanced base to assist in the cooking chores. Special rates are available. They will not be permitted to climb, however. … Women are not strong enough to carry heavy loads. And the high altitude—women aren’t emotionally stable enough to handle it." — Unknown Told to Arlene Blum when she asked to join a Denali expedition
"Everyone is charmed by a little tomboy, a scrappy little girl in overalls with a ponytail and scraped knees, who loves soccer and baseball and comic books and dirt. But what are we charmed by? It’s not just that she’s cute—it’s that she innocently thinks she’s going to stay this way forever. But we all know she won’t, and why is that? Because as much as we like a tomboy, nobody likes a tomman." — Jessi Klein You’ll Grow Out of It
"In her home, she struggles to find the right words to recognize her husband’s efforts. 'I don’t mean to say that I’m not grateful for you,' she tells him, 'but I really hate that I’m expected by society to be super-grateful for the fact that you’re not totally worthless around the house.'" — Lenny Letter
"My interpretation of the treatment we all recieved is that when a woman is inexperienced, young, and eager, male professionals are pleased to help her learn basic skills and knowledge, almost as if she were a little sister or a protégé. But once she demonstrates her competence and determination to succeed in an all-male domain, she meets resistance and even jealousy. Only after a woman has incontestably proven herself in any number of ways… is she “accepted” into the professional clique or organization." — Anne LaBastille Women and Wilderness
"A woman has to be twice as good to be considered half as good." — Unknown
