It is the ultimate wisdom of the mountains that a man is never more a man than when he is striving for what is beyond his grasp.

It was not a mere man he was holding, but a giant or a block of granite. The pull was unendurable. The pain unendurable.

To know a little less and to understand a little more: that, it seems to me, is our greatest need.

The climbing of earths heights, in itself, means little. That men and women want and try to climb them means everything. For it is the ultimate wisdom of the mountains that we are never so much human as when we are striving for what is beyond our grasp, and that there is no battle worth the winning save that against our own ignorance and fear.

We are so clothed in rationalization and dissemblance that we can recognize but dimly the deep primal impulses that motivate us.