My joy is as painful as my pain.
If it is a shame to be the second man on Mount Everest, then I will have to live with this shame.
We look up. For weeks, for months, that is all we have done. Look up. And there it is-the top of Everest. Only it is different now: so near, so close, only a little more than a thousand feet above us. It is no longer just a dream, a high dream in the sky, but a real and solid thing, a thing of rock and snow, that men can climb. We make ready. We will climb it. This time, with God's help, we will climb on to the end.
To travel, to experience and learn: that is to live.
I needed to go. . . the pull of Everest was stronger for me than any force on earth.
It has been a long road. From a mountain coolie, a bearer of loads, to a wearer of a coat with rows of medals who is carried about in planes and worries about income tax.
I have climbed my mountain, but I must still live my life.
I wouldn't mind gigging around the same era as Jesus, after he gives his speech about the meek and how blessed they are and all that type of bullshit, going up there and doing a flat 20 [minutes]. I reckon I'd have better stagecraft and presence than Jesus. Yea, I'm a better stand-up comedian than Jesus, so I reckon I could go on after him.
There is a legend that when God was equipping man for his long life journey of exploration, the attendant good angel was about to add the gift of contentment and complete satisfaction. The Creator stayed his hand and said, 'No, if you bestow that upon him you will rob him forever of all joy of self-discovery. '
There is no way to success in art but to take off your coat, grind paint, and work like a digger on the railroad, all day and every day.
The good news is that it doesn't cost much money to change your thinking. In fact, it can be done for free.