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" 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. "

Jon Krakauer

Process

Dangerous

Big

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

Jon Krakauer

Nothing

Purpose

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

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" 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. "

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" 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. "

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

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Focused

Heaven

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

" What makes climbing great for me, strangely enough, is this life-and-death aspect. It sounds trite to say, I know, but climbing isn't just another game. It isn't just another sport. It's life itself. Which is what makes it so compelling and also what makes it so impossible to justify when things go bad. "

" The way to Everest is not a Yellow Brick Road. "

" 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. "

Jon Krakauer

Environment

Time

Doing The Right Thing

" 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. "

" Short form media is reductionist by nature. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

Jon Krakauer

Fact

Own

" When I start any book, I have no idea what I'm going to do. "

" You can get a lawyer with two months off or a New York socialite who wants to play at being Lewis and Clark and put them up there, but Everest is still in charge; it can still kick butt. "