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" When I write books, I've learned not to have any expectations that I'm going to change the world. "
Jon Krakauer
World
Change The World
Change
Related Quotes:
" 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
" 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. "
Jon Krakauer
Book
Wish
My Life
" Happiness means nothing to me. I just want to have meaning and purpose. "
Jon Krakauer
Nothing
Purpose
Me
" 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
" 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. "
Jon Krakauer
Beautiful
Earth
Free
" The way to Everest is not a Yellow Brick Road. "
Jon Krakauer
Everest
Way
Yellow
" I never studied writing, but I'd always been a reader and had a secret fantasy about being a writer. "
Jon Krakauer
Never
Secret
Writing
" 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. "
Jon Krakauer
Life
Impossible
Know
" 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. "
Jon Krakauer
Point
Know
Book
" 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. "
Jon Krakauer
Want
You
Desire
" You get a compound fracture in Colorado where I live, and you can probably be in a hospital within a matter of hours, certainly within a day. "
Jon Krakauer
Day
Hospital
Colorado
" When I start any book, I have no idea what I'm going to do. "
Jon Krakauer
Any
No Idea
Book
" The pieces I've written for 'Outside' magazine are definitely my best work, and they're virtually all about the outdoors. "
Jon Krakauer
Best
Outside
Work
" I'm intrigued by fanatics - people who are seduced by the promise, or the illusion, of the absolute. "
Jon Krakauer
Who
Absolute
People
" 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. "
Jon Krakauer
Best
See
Climbing
" Short form media is reductionist by nature. "
Jon Krakauer
Short
Form
Nature
" I'm not even religious, but I get fanaticism. I get the appeal of it. "
Jon Krakauer
Appeal
Even
Fanaticism
" I really enjoy researching, and for almost every piece, I research enough to write a book. "
Jon Krakauer
Research
Enough
Enjoy
" Rob Hall was, without doubt, the most competent guide in mountaineering. "
Jon Krakauer
Guide
Doubt
Without
" 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. "
Jon Krakauer
New
Lawyer
New York
" Why climb? That's a question that baffles me. It perplexes me. I really asked that a lot on Everest. I can't justify it. I can't say it's for a good cause. All I can say is look at the history of exploration: it's full of vainglorious pursuits. "
Jon Krakauer
Say
Climb
Good
" There is nothing glamorous or romantic about war. It's mostly about random pointless death and misery. "
Jon Krakauer
Romantic
War
Random
" When I was 23, I climbed this mountain in Alaska called Devil's Thumb alone. It was incredibly dangerous, and I did it because I thought that if I did something that hard and pulled it off, my life was gonna be transformed. And of course, nothing happened. But I get the search for purpose. "
Jon Krakauer
Alone
Mountain
Purpose
" 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. "
Jon Krakauer
Rich
People
Say
" Almost every magazine piece I've ever written, I felt like I haven't done it justice, like it was just a gloss. "
Jon Krakauer
Justice
Magazine
Done
" When I went to Everest, I underestimated things. I just didn't know what altitude could do. Or the cold - I especially didn't appreciate the cold. It can be just debilitating, and things can happen so quickly. "
Jon Krakauer
Know
Cold
Appreciate
" I think part of the appeal of Antarctica is experiencing some sort of power, the forces of the natural world. "
Jon Krakauer
Sort
Natural
Power
" 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. "
Jon Krakauer
Caught
Loved
Working
" 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
Up
Own
" Heaven, for me, is one focused project - it's like a weird form of autism. "
Jon Krakauer
Focused
Heaven
Me