Al Alvarez Quotes

I don't know if I'm a daredevil, exactly, but I do enjoy a good challenge. It's the only way you grow.

The art of climbing is to go where you go knowing that you could die, but you don't die. That is adventure.

It is sometimes a mistake to climb. It is always a mistake to never make the attempt.

By 78 you've done everything you're going to do. If you haven't bungee-jumped by the time you're 78 you're not going to do it.

The roller-coaster is my life; life is a fast, dizzying game; life is a parachute jump; it’s taking chances, falling over and getting up again; it’s mountaineering; it’s wanting to get to the very top of yourself and feeling angry and dissatisfied when you don’t manage it

All my life the only thing I've been good at has been climbing and throwing myself off big things.

Climbing is unadulterated hard labor. The only real pleasure is the satisfaction of going where no man has been before and where few can follow.

Yet if a woman never lets herself go, how will she ever know how far she might have got? If she never takes off her high-heeled shoes, how will she ever know how far she could walk or how fast she could run?

I wanted something different; I wanted something that challenged me and that pushed me further. Then this idea of climbing Mount Everest came to my mind. It stuck in my head for days. Someone told me I couldn't do it, and that really annoyed me.

I like new challenges and new experiences.

A life lesson for me is, how do you muster the courage to take on a new risk? Whether it's starting up a business or taking on a new project or expedition. I think the risks that we take are all relative to the risk-taker.

I like to scare myself and throw myself off the deep end.

Why do I want to be challenged or have challenges? That's why I don't go climb mountains.

It's good for you to go somewhere that you wouldn't normally go.

I know that when I'm standing alone below a thousand-foot wall, looking up and considering a climb, my sponsors are the furthest thing from my mind. If I'm going to take risks, they are going to be for myself - not for any company.

I try to not make safe choices, but I also like to do stuff which is interesting and is sort of exciting in some way and accessible.

I'd say the most dangerous thing I've ever done is probably bungee jumping in Thailand.

Climbing has a lot of themes that are applicable to people, no matter who you are.

It's the uncertainty, the challenge and the willingness to put it all on the line that draws a lot of people to climb mountains. That can also apply to a lot of other challenges in life, whether it's running for office, starting a family, going to grad school or taking all of your cash and assets and starting a business.

I don't have any feeling of accomplishment about anything unless there's a lot of risk to it.

I'm in the camp that needs to discover and take risks, sometimes it's with the promise of something special and new, sometimes it's to stay awake, either way it's much more stressful with all the uncertainty but worth the pain in the end.

I want to try new things and put myself out there and take some risks.

One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.

Whether you're scared of getting into a relationship; or taking the new job; or a confrontation - you have to size fear up.

My wife always says that I function better up on a big wall than I do anywhere else in life.