"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
"We are shaped and fashioned by what we love." — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Through my twenties I was potting little plants all over. Some I was watering more than others; some I was harvesting from more than others. But by my thirties I could see which plants were still alive and flourishing." — Unknown heard on a podcast
"This present moment / that lives on / to become / long ago." — Gary Snyder This Present Moment, “Go Now”
"This is what our life is like; full of joy, full of sadness, full of longing, full of success, and of bitter disappointments. So full of happiness and suffering at the same time, that sometimes there is just too much of everything. It is then that we grow old." — Nejc Zaplotnik, translated by Mimi Marinsek Alpinist Magazine, Issue 74, "Nejc Zaplotnik, Mountain Poet"
"...how quickly our moment together had already become a memory." — James Campbell Braving It: A Father, a Daughter, and an Unforgettable Journey into the Alaskan Wild
"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
"Never let your memories be bigger than your dreams" — Unknown
"[Art] is getting on the other side of your brain and letting it take you for a ride." — Jeremy Jones The Art of Shralpinism
"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
"We are mirrors reflecting onto each other. The people we surround ourselves with shape us, and we shape those around us, too." — Brad Stulberg Outside Online, "Good Vibes Are Contagious"
