"If you spent less time bitching about your life, you’d possibly enjoy it more." — Unknown
"There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction." — John F. Kennedy
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." — Mahatma Gandhi
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started." — Mark Twain
"It is the job never started that takes the longest to finish." — Samwise Gamgee The Lord of the Rings
"By cleverly using new tools and mapping the unknown, we can redraw the line between the possible and the impossible." — Natalia Martinez Alpinist Magazine, Issue 75, "Living Maps of Patagonia: Toward a New Future of Exploration"
"There will always be another “there” that’s better than my “here”. The only way to find what I want is to be true and honest with myself. Settle into the experience rather than create drama like I so often do." — Susan Conrad Out There podcast, "With My Toes in the Sand"
"The Buddhist concept of the middle way refers to the balance between the extreme and the mundane. Somewhere in the middle is a balance of the two. “In ways you need to tug on both ends to realize the middle, because if you’re just in the middle all the time, it’s unsatisfying. You need extremes to find balance, you have to test both ends to actualize it." — Joe Grant via Annie Pokorny Adventure Journal, "Struggling With the Mundane After a Major Adventure Ends"
"We human beings are all the same in wanting to be happy and not wanting to suffer and yet many of the problems we face are of our own making. We seek happiness in external things without realizing that they don’t help when we have problems within. We need to focus instead on the joy that comes with peace of mind that allows us to remain happy whatever happens." — Dalai Lama
"Expectation is the cause of all disappointment." — Unknown
"The biggest issue you face is your own mind (you’re not alone in this) and the stories it tells you about your perceived problems. But the problems themselves are not as big as you feel they are. It’s the narrative around them that is most oppressive. You’ve been listening to K-FUKT. Change the station." — Lena Dunham Lennyscope, September 2016
"Complaining is contagious, so I’m trying not to drive down that road anymore. I want to be the one at the wheel when people buckle up, grab the “oh shit” handle, and get ready for a weird and wild ride. Because life sucks sometimes, but not most of the time, and hitting the gas and going anyway is a whole lot better than complaining about it." — Steph Wright Oru Kayak, "Go Anyway"
"When we would start complaining as kids, my dad would ask us: “Do you want to have a good time or do you want to have a bad time?” It’s a simple question, but it’s always felt profound to me, this idea that I could reframe reality. That having a good time was about deciding to, and that when things went badly, I didn’t have to go with them." — Steph Wright Oru Kayak, "Go Anyway"
"Internal reflection was more important than external appearance; personal growth took precedence over material acquisition." — Dick Dorworth Climbing Fitz Roy, 1968, "Viva los Funhogs"
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Just be your natural, horrid self." — 4th Doctor Doctor Who, "The Masque of Mandragora"
"Be yourself, because everyone else is taken." — Oscar Wilde
"It was as though my interpretation of reality wasn’t valid unless someone else confirmed it." — Jan Redford End of the Rope: Mountains, Marriage, and Motherhood
"Just because we have observed or experienced something doesn’t mean we should speak about it if doing so will make others suffer. When we see someone suffer because of something we have said, we say, “Well, I was only telling the truth.” It may have been the truth, but it may also have been unskillful and hurtful. Loving speech requires telling the truth in such a way that it benefits others, the world, and ourselves. When we tell the truth, we do so with compassion; we speak in such a way that the hearer can accept what we’re saying." — Thich Nhat Hanh How to Fight
