Jon Krakauer Quotes

Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it.

There is no joy involved in climbing mountains, there is simply the challenge, the self-invented challenge, the play.

It's very important for me to really use this body as a barometer of a certain kind of knowledge--to take the personal risk of exposing my own body in a certain kind of way. I can't ask anybody else to do something that I don't do first myself.

Traveling alone offers the chance to test the limits of what you think you know about yourself.

It may be true that he travels farthest who travels alone, but the goal thus reached is not worth reaching.

There's a wonderful saying that's dead wrong. 'Why did you climb the mountain?' 'I climbed the mountain because it was there.' That's utter nonsense...You climbed the mountain because you were there, and you were curious if you could do it. You wondered what it would be like.

You can't replicate walking 94 days through the wilderness by yourself with a really heavy pack until you do it.

If you have a high-way on Everest, you don't meet the mountain. If everything is prepared, and you have a guide who is responsible for your security, you cannot meet the mountain. Meeting mountains is only possible if you . . . are out there in self-sufficiency.

Those who would see wonderful things must often be ready to travel alone.

That's a lovely starting point for me as an actor: the question of what will we - or can we - do with this lot of years with which we're blessed? More than my other films, 'The Danish Girl' is about the gigantic risks involved in being true to one's self.

I'm always nudging myself into discomfort zones as much as I can.

The more I see of deer, the more I admire them as mountaineers. They make their way into the heart of the roughest solitudes with smooth reserve of strength, through dense belts of brush and forest encumbered with fallen trees and boulder piles, across canons, roaring streams, and snow-fields, ever showing forth beauty and courage.

I like putting myself in uncomfortable situations.

Art is all about giving yourself these terrifying challenges, these peaks to climb. You're at the bottom of the mountain at the start of every new project thinking, 'Am I going to make it?'

Whatever that means, however you got on that mountain, why not try to climb it? And do it in your own way.

I did commercial fishing in Alaska in college. I was the only girl on a fishing boat. It definitely tested so many aspects of my personality.

It takes a lot of resources to climb Everest, and a lot of other people. But you should go do it.

In 2012, I promised myself I'd do something each month I'd never done before. So I skydived. I did trapeze lessons. I rode a motorcycle... All stuff that I'd never done.

It's important to take risks and challenge yourself. That's why I went into acting, really.

I love to put myself in a situation where I get to break a few things and construct a few cells in me.

I go to the wild mountains where I am responsible for myself. Step by step I am making sure that I don't die.

It's asking that never-ending question, 'Who am I?' which motivates me and takes me on a constant journey of self-discovery that teaches me so much. Will Everest make me more cautious? In reality, probably not.

I realized I have an appetite for stunts. I learned how to do them myself.

On the 'Jersey Shore,' people got a glimpse through a keyhole of who I really am. But the world really started to see me on 'Dancing With the Stars.' I am not the best dancer. That was never my strong point. But I wanted to let people know, hey, this kid is risking a lot just to know a different side of him.

I wanted to enjoy my life and challenge myself.