A biography for Edmund Hillaryhasn’t been written yet.
“There is precious little in civilization to appeal to a Yeti.”
“I am inclined to think that the realm of mythology is where the Yeti rightly belongs.”
“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.”
“Despite all I have seen and experienced, I still get the same simple thrill out of glimpsing a tiny patch of snow in a high mountain gully and feel the same urge to climb towards it.”
“I hate being called an 'icon.' I just don't like it. That's all there is to it.”
“I think I mainly climb mountains because I get a great deal of enjoyment out of it. I never attempt to analyze these things too thoroughly, but I think that all mountaineers do get a great deal of satisfaction out of overcoming some challenge which they think is very difficult for them, or which perhaps may be a little dangerous.”
“I'm sure the feeling of fear, as long as you can take advantage of it and not be rendered useless by it, can make you extend yourself beyond what you would regard as your capacity. If you're afraid, the blood seems to flow freely through the veins, and you really do feel a sense of stimulation.”
“When I was climbing, I built up a close relationship with the Sherpa people.”
“If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go.”
“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.”
“I have enjoyed great satisfaction from my climb of Everest and my trips to the poles. But there's no doubt that my most worthwhile things have been the building of schools and medical clinics.”
“I've always hated the danger part of climbing, and it's great to come down again because it's safe.”
“I enjoyed climbing with other people, good friends, but I did quite a lot of solo climbing, too.”
“The truth is, I'm just a rough old New Zealander who has enjoyed many challenges in his life.”
“On the summit of Everest, I had a feeling of great satisfaction to be first there.”
“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.”
“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.”
“The Sherpas play a very important role in most mountaineering expeditions, and in fact many of them lead along the ridges and up to the summit.”
“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 don't know if I particularly want to be remembered for anything. I personally do not think I'm a great gift to the world. I've been very fortunate.”