Edmund Hillary

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

“Take advantage of the years of pioneering efforts. You might find this boring, as the young want to rush head on, as it were.”

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”

“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.”

“Once I've decided to do something, I do usually try to carry it through to fruition.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Life's a bit like mountaineering - never look down.”

“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.”

“I was definitely very much a country boy.”

“If I wished to do something, even if I couldn't find anyone who wanted to make the effort with me, I would go out solo climbing. I did find solo climbing very challenging and a little frightening. You knew that you were completely on your own, and you had to overcome all the problems and possible dangers.”

“I think it all comes down to motivation. If you really want to do something, you will work hard for it.”

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

“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 don't spend a lot of time thinking about dying, but I like to think that I've - if it did occur - that I would die peacefully and not make too much of a fuss about it.”

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