Reinhold Messner

For years I was a rock climber and nothing else. I went to school, yes, and university, yes, but in my heart I was a rock climber.

There are periods on the mountain when you exist between living and dying, sometimes for days. I went through that with my brother on Nanga Parbat. It is very difficult, but it is the most intense experience. And always after such experiences, when I was back among people, I felt I had been reborn.

I was 5 when I went up my first 10,000 ft mountain, with my parents, and I have been climbing ever since.

The true alpinist doesn't want any infrastructure, he wants to go into the wild. And the odds of getting killed there are relatively high. And most people are sensible enough not to want that.

On your own, relying on yourself, you will never feel you are stronger than the mountain, and your respect for the peak grows.

Ninety per cent of the tourists climbing big mountains are on 10 mountains - and one million mountains in the world are empty.

I have a very different fear if I'm all alone in the summit area of Mount Everest and if I know that there is nothing below me, no Sherpa, no tent, no rope.

Each mountain in the Dolomites is like a piece of art.

A tourist follows a trail; a mountaineer finds one.

This is one of my definitions of mountaineering: to go where others do not.

Climbing is all about freedom, the freedom to go beyond all the rules and take a chance, to experience something new, to gain insight into human nature.

I was always at my best when I was learning, when I was curious. When I had yet to see past the next horizon.

I would never bring a flag on the summit. If somebody is climbing for a country he is not normal, he is sick.

For me, climbing has always been about adventure and that involves difficulties, danger and exposure, so I deliberately set out to climb with as little equipment as possible.

I am not so proud to climb all the 8,000-meter peaks, but I was proud to climb Nanga Parbat solo. That was the most elegant thing I did.

I am not made for lonely expeditions. In the sixties, I climbed during the day so I wouldn't have to be alone. I finally learned to stay up for weeks in the high altitude all by my own without being afraid.

On Mount Everest it feels as if you are in the womb, but on K2 you are always out on the edge.

My market value increases with every outside critisism. Therefore, the frequently raised contention that I am the most highly critisized mountaineer does not disturb me in the slightest.

The wonderful things in life are the things you do, not the things you have.

Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous.