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Now what is history? It is the centuries of systematic explorations of the riddle of death, with a view to overcoming death. That's why people discover mathematical infinity and electromagnetic waves, that's why they write symphonies.

Jon Krakauer

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Jon Krakauer
Age: 70
Born: 1954
Born: April 12
Explorer
Journalist
Mountaineer
Writer
Brookline
Massachusetts
Writing
Wave
Systematic
People
Discover
Symphony
View
Waves
Views
Infinity
Century
Exploration
Explorations
History
Centuries
Electromagnetic
Write
Mathematical
Symphonies
Death
Overcoming
Riddle

More quotes by Jon Krakauer

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I thought climbing the Devil's Thumb would fix all that was wrong with my life. In the end, of course, it changed almost nothing. But I came to appreciate that mountains make poor receptacles for dreams.
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Most climbers aren't in fact deranged, they're just infected with a particularly virulent strain of the Human Condition.
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Short form media is reductionist by nature.
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You should own nothing except what you can carry on your back at a dead run.
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The thing that is most beautiful about Antarctica for me is the light. It's like no other light on Earth, because the air is so free of impurities. You get drugged by it, like when you listen to one of your favorite songs. The light there is a mood-enhancing substance.
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Passion is what makes life interesting, what ignites our soul, drives our curiosity, fuels our love and carries our friendship, stimulates our intellect, and pushes our limit.... A passion for life is contagious and uplifting. Passion cuts both ways.... Those that make you feel on top of the world are equally able to turnit upside down.
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But somethings in life are more important than being happy. Like being free to think for yourself.
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If you don't take it, I'm going to throw it away, Alex cheerfully retorted. I don't want to know what time it is. I don't want to know what day it is or where I am. None of that matters.
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The desert sharpened the sweet ache of his longing, amplified it, gave shape to it in sere geology and clean slant of light.
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Everest has always been a magnet for kooks, publicity seekers, hopeless romantics and others with a shaky hold on reality.
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I never studied writing, but I'd always been a reader and had a secret fantasy about being a writer.
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Getting to the top of any given mountain was considered much less important than how one got there: prestige was earned by tackling the most unforgiving routes with minimal equipment, in the boldest style imaginable.
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It is true that I miss intelligent companionship, but there are so few with whom I can share the things that mean so much to me that I have learned to contain myself. It is enough that I am surrounded with beauty.
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What if I were smiling and running into your arms? Would you see then what I see now?
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Mr. Franz, I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don't want one.
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That's what was great about him. He tried. Not many do.
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I don't know what God is, or what God had in mind when the universe was set in motion. In fact, I don't know if God even exists, although I confess that I sometimes find myself praying in times of great fear, or despair, or astonishment at a display of unexpected beauty.
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Almost every magazine piece I've ever written, I felt like I haven't done it justice, like it was just a gloss.
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It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found. God it's great to be alive! Thank you. Thank you.
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When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God’s light shines through you.
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