I was the first man to climb the world's 14 tallest peaks without supplementary oxygen, but I never asked how high I would go, just how I would do it.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of the journey and method over the end goal.
Reinhold Messner reflects on his pioneering achievement of climbing the highest peaks in the world without supplementary oxygen, underscoring that his focus was not solely on reaching the summit, but rather on the approach and methods he employed to accomplish such a daunting task. This perspective reveals a deeper understanding of perseverance and the value of the process in overcoming challenges, highlighting that the way we tackle our goals can be as significant as the goals themselves.
In practice
This quote is perfect for an inspirational speech about pursuing dreams.
I became famous for the fact that I would break many, many limits. People said, 'He does all these crazy things.' But oddly it was a crazy thing only because scientists and climbers said, 'Everest and the 8,000-meter peaks without oxygen - impossible. Messner is becoming sick in his head.'
A 30-year-old rock climber is an old man. At 40, one is in the middle of his high-altitude power. At 50, a crosser of deserts is at his best age. But at 60, each of us is out of the game.
I think my cultural work is more important than the adventures I did. The adventures are not important for human beings. It's the conquering of the useless.
In mountaineering, there is not only the activity, but the philosophy behind it. Some say a moral, but I am against that because all morality is dangerous.
In my state of spiritual abstraction, I no longer belong to myself and to my eyesight. I am nothing more than a single narrow gasping lung, floating over the mists and summits.
I go to the mountains for an adventure and each time I pray I will get up and down again.
Group conformity scares the pants off me because it's so often a prelude to cruelty towards anyone who doesn't want to - or can't - join the Big Parade.
It takes more courage to send men into battle than to fight the battle yourself.
Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.
Freedom is a hard-bought thing and millions are in chains, but they strain toward the new day drawing near.
I have been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). It's a terminal disease with an average lifespan of two to five years post-diagnosis, and scientists don't know what causes it. ALS prevents your brain from talking to your muscles. As a result, muscles die. As a result, every 90 minutes people die. I am a person.
We are at war with the most dangerous enemy that has ever faced mankind in his long climb from the swamp to the stars, and it has been said if we lose that war, and in so doing lose this way of freedom of ours, history will record with the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its happening.
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