The mind of a horse is a very limited concern, relying almost entirely upon memory. He rivals our politicians in that he has little real intellect. Consequently, when the pony was faced with conditions different from those to which he was accustomed, he showed little adaptability.

Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised.

Take it all in all, I do not believe anybody on earth has a worse time than an Emperor penguin.

Exploration is the physical expression of the Intellectual Passion. And I tell you, if you have the desire for knowledge and the power to give it physical expression, go out and explore.... If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg.

I might have speculated on my chances of going to Heaven but candidly I did not care. I could not have wept if I had tried. I had no wish to review the evils of my past. But the past did seem to have been a bit wasted. The road to Hell may be paved with good intentions: the road to Heaven is paved with lost opportunities.

We are a nation of shop keepers.

If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg.

And if the worst, or best, happens, and Death comes for you in the snow, he comes disguised as Sleep, and you greet him rather as a welcome friend than a gruesome foe.

In Antarctica you get to know people so well that in comparison you do not seem to know the people in civilization at all.