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All Quotes by author - Jon Krakauer

" Almost every magazine piece I've ever written, I felt like I haven't done it justice, like it was just a gloss. "

" Antarctica has this mythic weight. It resides in the collective unconscious of so many people, and it makes this huge impact, just like outer space. It's like going to the moon. "

" Antarctica is a very alien environment, and you can't survive here more than minutes if you're not equipped properly and doing the right thing all the time. "

Doing The Right Thing

" As I point out in the very first pages of 'Into the Wild,' I approached this book not as a normal, you know, unbiased journalist. "

" Climbing Mount Everest was the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life. I wish I'd never gone. I suffered for years of PTSD and still suffer from what happened. I'm glad I wrote a book about it. But, you know, if I could go back and relive my life, I would never have climbed Everest. "

" Everest is not real climbing. It's rich people climbing. It's a trophy on the wall, and they're done... When I say I wish I'd never gone, I really mean that. "

" Happiness means nothing to me. I just want to have meaning and purpose. "

" Heaven, for me, is one focused project - it's like a weird form of autism. "

" How can you not be a feminist if you have a brain in your head? If you're not a feminist, then you're a problem. "

" I guess I don't try to justify climbing or defend it, because I can't. I see climbing as a compulsion that, at its best, is no worse than many other compulsions - golf or stamp collecting or growing world-record pumpkins. "

" I knew that you couldn't make a living simply writing about the outdoors, so I made an effort from the beginning of my freelance career to write about other subjects. "

" I love being outdoors, being in the mountains and the desert, and my wife enjoys that too. That's one of the things that sustain our relationship. "

" I'm intrigued by fanatics - people who are seduced by the promise, or the illusion, of the absolute. "

" I'm not even religious, but I get fanaticism. I get the appeal of it. "

" I never studied writing, but I'd always been a reader and had a secret fantasy about being a writer. "

" I really enjoy researching, and for almost every piece, I research enough to write a book. "

" I think part of the appeal of Antarctica is experiencing some sort of power, the forces of the natural world. "

" 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. "

" I've had a lot of crappy jobs, but one of my favorites was working as a commercial fisherman in Alaska. What I loved about it was, you got paid for what you caught. "

" Let's not mince words: Everest doesn't attract a whole lot of well-balanced folks. The self-selection process tends to weed out the cautious and the sensible in favor of those who are single-minded and incredibly driven. Which is a big reason the mountain is so dangerous. "

" Military investigations are designed not to find anyone guilty. "

" Most friendly fire incidents aren't investigated properly because of neglect or a natural inclination to cover up the embarrassing fact that they killed one of their own. "

" Once you believe that God is speaking directly to you, there is no discussion. "

" Rob Hall was, without doubt, the most competent guide in mountaineering. "

" Short form media is reductionist by nature. "

" The pieces I've written for 'Outside' magazine are definitely my best work, and they're virtually all about the outdoors. "

" There is nothing glamorous or romantic about war. It's mostly about random pointless death and misery. "

" There's something about being afraid, about being small, about enforced humility that draws me to climbing. "

" The thing that is most beautiful about Antarctica for me is the light. It's like no other light on Earth, because the air is so free of impurities. You get drugged by it, like when you listen to one of your favorite songs. The light there is a mood-enhancing substance. "

" The way Everest is guided is very different from the way other mountains are guided, and it flies in the face of values I hold dear: self-reliance, taking responsibility for what you do, making your own decisions, trusting your judgment - the kind of judgment that comes only through paying your dues, through experience. "

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