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Achieving the summit of a mountain was tangible, immutable, concrete. The incumbent hazards lent the activity a seriousness of purpose that was sorely missing from the rest of my life. I thrilled in the fresh perspective that came from the tipping the ordinary plane of existence on end.

Jon Krakauer

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Jon Krakauer
Age: 70
Born: 1954
Born: April 12
Explorer
Journalist
Mountaineer
Writer
Brookline
Massachusetts
Purpose
Perspective
Seriousness
Incumbent
Ends
Missing
Achieving
Lent
Life
Activity
Tangible
Incumbents
Ordinary
Plane
Immutable
Achieve
Concrete
Tipping
Rest
Planes
Thrilled
Existence
Fresh
Hazards
Came
Mountain
Summit
Sorely

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I was dimly aware that I might be getting in over my head. But that only added to the scheme’s appeal. That it wouldn’t be easy was the whole point.
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If you're not a feminist, you're part of the problem.
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At that stage of my youth, death remained as abstract a concept as non-Euclidean geometry or marriage. I didn't yet appreciate its terrible finality or the havoc it could wreak on those who'd entrusted the deceased with their hearts.
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Mr. Franz, I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don't want one.
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To the contrary: His life hummed with meaning and purpose. But the meaning he wrested from existence lay beyond the comfortable path: McCandless distrusted the value of things that came easily.
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When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God’s light shines through you.
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But now that I was finally here, standing on the summit of Mount Everest, I just couldn't summon the energy to care.
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Heaven, for me, is one focused project - it's like a weird form of autism.
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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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There is nothing glamorous or romantic about war. It's mostly about random pointless death and misery.
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It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it.
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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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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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