I've always hated the danger part of climbing, and it's great to come down again because it's safe.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the relief that comes with safety after facing a dangerous challenge like climbing.
Edmund Hillary reflects on the paradox of climbing, acknowledging the inherent dangers involved, yet also appreciating the contrast of safety that follows after successfully overcoming such risks. This highlights the idea that courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to embrace challenges for the sense of accomplishment they bring.
In practice
This quote can inspire climbers to reflect on their own experiences with fear and safety.
I think I mainly climb mountains because I get a great deal of enjoyment out of it. I never attempt to analyze these things too thoroughly, but I think that all mountaineers do get a great deal of satisfaction out of overcoming some challenge which they think is very difficult for them, or which perhaps may be a little dangerous.
Despite all I have seen and experiences, I still get the same thrill out of glimpsing a tiny patch of snow in a high mountain gully and feel the same urge to climb toward it.
Even when you're 50, you can make the effort to improve your standards.
Many people have been getting too casual about climbing Everest. I forecast a disaster many times.
I am a lucky man. I have had a dream and it has come true, and that is not a thing that happens often to men.
Ever since the morning of May 29, 1953, when Tenzing Norgay and I became the first climbers to step onto the summit of Mount Everest, I've been called a great adventurer.
I have given my life and all I am to it, and now I want my last act to be to give it all I have, to the last cent.
Nonviolence will empower and equip us to bring generations to the table and fuse our knowledge, gifts, and zeal together.
This is a fight between a free world and a slave world.
I condemn racism on all levels, whether personal or systemic.
I get stage fright and gremlins in my head saying: 'You're going to forget your lines'.
Nevertheless, to the persecution and tyranny of his cruel ministry we will not tamely submit - appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free . . . .
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