Quotes

The two fundamental problems of modern life are despair from a sense of injustice and irrationality (not the injustice itself) and boredom from lack

You may find that if you attend to these moral obligations, once you have placed “make the world better” at the top of your

The average climbing party takes two days to climb Moonlight Buttress, sleeping in a portaledge on the side of the cliff halfway up, hauling

Taking the easy way out or telling the truth—those are not merely two different choices. They are different pathways through life. They are utterly

“I see myself retired, sitting on a tropical beach, drinking margaritas in the sunshine.” That’s not a plan. That’s a travel poster. After eight

There is an old Soviet joke. An American dies and goes to hell. Satan himself shows him around. They pass a large cauldron. The

Such disagreements legitimately exist between people of different age and mentality, born on different continents. It would be strange if those disagreements didn’t exist

Afterward, Twight wrote an article for Climbing magazine, entitled “Justification for an Elitist Attitude.” In it he wrote: I’m an elitist prick, and I

The better ambitions have to do with the development of character and ability, rather than status and power. Status you can lose. You carry

Colin Haley, one of America’s leading alpinists and a partner of Alex’s, once told me that he climbs because it satisfies a primal desire