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" I am a lucky man. I have had a dream and it has come true, and that is not a thing that happens often to men. "

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" I hate being called an 'icon.' I just don't like it. That's all there is to it. "

" I like to think of Everest as a great mountaineering challenge, and when you've got people just streaming up the mountain - well, many of them are just climbing it to get their name in the paper, really. "

" I think my first thought on reaching the summit- of course, I was very, very pleased to be there, naturally - but my first thought was one of a little bit of surprise. I was a little bit surprised that here I was, Ed Hillary, on top of Mt. Everest. After all, this is the ambition of most mountaineers. "

" When I was climbing, I built up a close relationship with the Sherpa people. "

" I really haven't liked the commercialization of mountaineering, particularly of Mt. Everest. By paying $65,000, you can be conducted to the summit by a couple of good guides. "

" Even when you're 50, you can make the effort to improve your standards. "

" I have never regarded myself as a hero, but Tenzing undoubtedly was. "

" Good planning is important. I've also regarded a sense of humor as one of the most important things on a big expedition. When you're in a difficult or dangerous situation, or when you're depressed about the chances of success, someone who can make you laugh eases the tension. "

" When you go to the mountains, you see them and you admire them. In a sense, they give you a challenge, and you try to express that challenge by climbing them. "

" I am inclined to think that the realm of mythology is where the Yeti rightly belongs. "

" Becoming a 'Sir' is slightly uncomfortable at first, although it is a considerable honor. It is amazing how quickly you become accustomed to it. "

" People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things. "

" I enjoyed climbing with other people, good friends, but I did quite a lot of solo climbing, too. "

" Many people have been getting too casual about climbing Everest. I forecast a disaster many times. "

" It's not a real adventure when you have to pay for it. "

" I was scared many times on Everest, but this is all part of the challenge. When I fell down a crevasse, it was pretty scary. "

" I think Himalayan climbers tend to mature fairly late. I think most of the successful Himalayan climbers have ranged from 28 to just over 40, really. "

" Ever since the morning of May 29, 1953, when Tenzing Norgay and I became the first climbers to step onto the summit of Mount Everest, I've been called a great adventurer. "

" There is something about building up a comradeship - that I still believe is the greatest of all feats - and sharing in the dangers with your company of peers. It's the intense effort, the giving of everything you've got. It's really a very pleasant sensation. "

" I believe that of all the things I have done, exciting though many of them have been, there's no doubt in my mind that the most worthwhile have been the establishing of schools and hospitals, and the rebuilding of monasteries in the mountains. "

" There is precious little in civilization to appeal to a Yeti. "

" When you're climbing at high altitudes, life can get pretty miserable. "

" I realised a little bit to my astonishment that I can give a lecture for a thousand people, and there will be this tumultuous applause, so, you know, I have the feeling well, it can't be all that bad. "

" Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain. "

" My mother was a schoolteacher and very keen that I go to a city school, so although it was fairly impoverished times, I traveled every day to the Auckland Grammar School. "

" While on top of Everest, I looked across the valley towards the great peak Makalu and mentally worked out a route about how it could be climbed. It showed me that even though I was standing on top of the world, it wasn't the end of everything. I was still looking beyond to other interesting challenges. "

" I was extremely lucky that I had two great wives. It sounds a bit funny to say that, but it's absolutely true. "

" Tourism is a very big economic benefit to the Sherpa people, and also, they have very strong ties to their own social attitudes and their own religion, so fortunately, they're not too influenced by many of our Western attitudes. "

" No one remembers who climbed Mount Everest the second time. "

" Adventuring can be for the ordinary person with ordinary qualities, such as I regard myself. "