Top 121 Quotes & Sayings by Jon Krakauer

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Rob Hall was, without doubt, the most competent guide in mountaineering.

I'm intrigued by fanatics - people who are seduced by the promise, or the illusion, of the absolute.

There is nothing glamorous or romantic about war. It's mostly about random pointless death and misery.

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

How can you not be a feminist if you have a brain in your head? If you're not a feminist, then you're a problem.

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.

I knew that you couldn't make a living simply writing about the outdoors, so I made an effort from the beginning of my freelance career to write about other subjects.

The way to Everest is not a Yellow Brick Road.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Military investigations are designed not to find anyone guilty.

Military investigations are designed not to find anyone guilty. And you can't investigate up the chain of command, which is a huge impediment.

When I was 23, I went to Alaska by myself into the glaciers of the coast range and climbed a mountain by myself. It was incredibly reckless, incredibly stupid. But I was lucky. And I survived, and I came back to tell my story.

I think part of the appeal of Antarctica is experiencing some sort of power, the forces of the natural world.

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

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.

Short form media is reductionist by nature.

Almost every magazine piece I've ever written, I felt like I haven't done it justice, like it was just a gloss.

I really enjoy researching, and for almost every piece, I research enough to write a book.

I love being outdoors, being in the mountains and the desert, and my wife enjoys that too. That's one of the things that sustain our relationship.

Once you believe that God is speaking directly to you, there is no discussion.

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.

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.

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.

I never studied writing, but I'd always been a reader and had a secret fantasy about being a writer.

When I write books, I've learned not to have any expectations that I'm going to change the world.

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.

I read somewhere... how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong... to measure yourself at least once.

When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God’s light shines through you.

When a young person is moved by a passion and feels compelled to go on this sort of quest, I think you have to let him. You can't stop him. In our culture we don't have formal rights of passage like in some ancient cultures. Subjecting yourself to risk... may be something you have to go through to be a man or a woman.

The endless, agonizing recycling of what might have been, soon followed by a litany of rationalizations and self-deceptions as you struggle to reconcile the void between the person you want to be and the person you fear you are.

That's what was great about him. He tried. Not many do.

An extended stay in the wilderness inevitably directs one's attention outward as much as inward, and it is impossible to live off the land without developing both a subtle understanding of, and a strong emotional bond with, that land and all it holds.

Most climbers aren't in fact deranged, they're just infected with a particularly virulent strain of the Human Condition.

You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only...from human relationships. God has placed it all around us...and all you have to do is reach for it.

There is something special about a quiet untouched forest that just pulls you into the moment. Something that no parks will ever be able to achieve. Isn't that what we're all searching for in life? To just be happy and content in the moment, to just be there in the "now"?

Passion is what makes life interesting, what ignites our soul, drives our curiosity, fuels our love and carries our friendship, stimulates our intellect, and pushes our limit.... A passion for life is contagious and uplifting. Passion cuts both ways.... Those that make you feel on top of the world are equally able to turnit upside down.

I was dimly aware that I might be getting in over my head. But that only added to the scheme’s appeal. That it wouldn’t be easy was the whole point.

The sea's only gifts are harsh blows, and occasionally the chance to feel strong. Now I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind death stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head.

If you want a blank spot on the map, you gotta leave the map behind.

The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences.

The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.

Early on a difficult climb, especially a solo climb, you’re hyper-aware of the abyss pulling at your back, constantly feeling its call, its immense hunger. To resist takes tremendous conscious effort, you don’t dare let your guard down for an instant. The void puts you on edge, makes your movements tentative and clumsy. But as the climb continues, you grow accustomed to the exposure, you get used to rubbing shoulders with doom, you come to believe in the reliability of your hands and feet and head. You learn to trust your self-control.

Some people feel like they don't deserve love. They walk away quietly into empty spaces, trying to close the gaps of the past.

Don't settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon.

But somethings in life are more important than being happy. Like being free to think for yourself.