The truth is, I'm just a rough old New Zealander who has enjoyed many challenges in his life.
Interpretation
Edmund Hillary reflects on his identity and the challenges he has faced throughout his life.
In this quote, Edmund Hillary humbly acknowledges his identity as a 'rough old New Zealander,' which emphasizes his down-to-earth nature and genuine appreciation for his life's experiences. He suggests that life's challenges have shaped him, celebrating resilience and the joy that comes with overcoming obstacles.
In practice
This quote can be shared at a motivational speaking event to inspire individuals to embrace their struggles.
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.
Life was about spending time together , about having the time to walk together holding hands, talking quietly as the sun go down. It wasn't glamorous, but it was, in many ways, the best that life has to offer. Wasn't that how the old saying went? Who, on their deathbed, ever said they wished they had worked harder? Or spent less time enjoying a quiet afternoon? Or spent less time with their family?
Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.
How well I know with what burning intensity you live. You have experienced many lives already, including several you have shared with me- full rich lives from birth to death, and you just have to have these rest periods in between.
If you are living for an ideal and driving yourself as hard as you can to be perfect - at your job or as a mother or as a perfect wife - you lose the natural, slow rythmn of life. There's a rushing, trying to attain the ideal; the slower pace of the beat of the earth, the state where you simply are, is forgotten
You have left me so long to struggle against death, alone, that I feel and see only death! I feel like death!
The best way to make room for both life and career is to make choices deliberately-to set limits and stick to them.
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