China Mieville Quotes

You can't call it an adventure unless it's tinged with danger. The greatest danger in life, though, is not taking the adventure at all. To have the objective of a life of ease is death. I think we've all got to go after our own Everest.

I could go off into the wilderness and write fantasy novels for the rest of my life and probably be happy; but I always want to challenge myself.

I love playing different characters and things that are challenging. I'm not interested in safety at all. That's what makes me get up in the morning.

Some people see acting as a kind of stroll on the beach, and some people see it as a kind of skydive. And I've had lots of strolls on the beach in my life, so I'd like to do a skydive.

The world is full of opportunities, and I want to try as many as I possibly can.

But in truth, should I meet with gold or spices in great quantity, I shall remain till I collect as much as possible, and for this purpose I am proceeding solely in quest of them.

I have always strived to do something different, to push myself.

I want to do everything in the world that can be done.

I think you want to try every sport possible just to experience life.

I want to do things - scuba diving, sky diving, seeing the world. I'm an avid supporter of living life to its fullest and not always waiting for tomorrow.

I always try to put myself in the way of surprise as much as possible. My ambition is to keep challenging myself. I like that journey of discovery.

I wanted to be an explorer, but gradually found the world had been explored and that there was nowhere left, really. Once they climbed Everest in 1953, when I was 10 years old, I thought, 'Well, that's pretty much it now.' But the idea of travelling and exploring and adventure was very strong.

I'm not good at being static. I have to be climbing a mountain.

It's not that I don't value my life. It's just that I love taking chances, testing myself, stepping over the line.

I like moving, challenging myself.

There is something addictive in space that makes you want to go back - like the mountain climbers who want to go back to the Himalayas although their fingers were cut by frostbite.

This year I am choosing to live beyond my wildest dreams. I wonder where they'll take me.

Venture nothing, and life is less than it should be.

I never was content unless I was trying my skill...or testing my endurance.

Few places in this world are more dangerous than home. Fear not, therefore, to try the mountain passes. They will kill care, save you from deadly apathy, set you free, and call forth every faculty into vigorous, enthusiastic action.

There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.

Here be dragons to be slain, here be rich rewards to gain; If we perish in the seeking, why, how small a thing is death!

Man must have just enough faith in himself to have adventures, and just enough doubt of himself to enjoy them.

I wanted real adventures to happen to myself. But real adventures, I reflected, do not happen to people who remain at home: they must be sought abroad.

Yet for all the depression no one ever quit. When someone quit, we couldn't believe it. 'I'm becoming a rafting instructor on the Colorado River,' they said. 'I'm touring college towns with my garage band.' We were dumbfounded. It was like they were from another planet. Where had they found the derring-do? What would they do about car payments? We got together for going away drinks on their final day and tried to hide our envy while reminding ourselves that we still had the freedom and luxury to shop indiscriminately.