I was scared many times on Everest, but this is all part of the challenge. When I fell down a crevasse, it was pretty scary.
Interpretation
Facing fears is integral to overcoming challenges.
Edmund Hillary reflects on his experiences climbing Everest, acknowledging that fear is a natural part of tackling formidable challenges. His statement emphasizes the idea that fear should not deter us; rather, it is a component of the journey towards achieving greatness and conquering the unknown.
In practice
In a motivational speech to inspire climbers to embrace their fears.
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.
I've always hated the danger part of climbing, and it's great to come down again because it's safe.
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.
I wouldn't have had a sporting career if it hadn't been for the volunteers who agreed to coach me, as a teenager, growing up in south Wales, at a time when others were telling me that wheelchair racing wasn't really athletics.
I am a Christian; God sent me to fight evil for my people. Jesus was a revolutionist; so am I.
There are no brave men and cowardly men in the world, my son. There are only brave men. To be born, to live, to dieβthat takes courage enough in itself, and more than enough. We are all brave men and we are all afraid, and what the world calls a brave man, he too is brave and afraid like the all rest of us. Only he is brave for five minutes longer.
The people of South Africa are ready to stand up to the oppressions of the Pretoria regime, and they are ready to fight back.
I sometimes wish I were suffering in a good cause, or risking my life for the good of others, instead of just being a gravely endangered patient.
We must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.