I go to the wild mountains where I am responsible for myself. Step by step I am making sure that I don't die.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of self-reliance and personal responsibility in the face of nature's challenges.
Reinhold Messner's quote reflects the profound connection between humanity and the wilderness. It speaks to the experience of venturing into untamed landscapes where one must rely solely on their own abilities and instincts for survival. The phrase 'responsible for myself' highlights the importance of accountability and awareness in challenging environments. This journey into the mountains represents not only a physical journey but also a metaphorical one, where each step signifies personal growth and the conscious effort to remain alive and aware.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a motivational talk about the importance of self-discovery and personal growth.
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.
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.
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.
Wilderness to the people of America is a spiritual necessity, an antidote to the high pressure of modern life, a means of regaining serenity and equilibrium.
We are in grave danger of losing forever not just millions of years of evolution on earth, but the eons of change that have produced man and his natural environment.
Of all celestial bodies within reach or view, as far as we can see, out to the edge, the most wonderful and marvellous and mysterious is turning out to be our own planet earth. There is nothing to match it anywhere, not yet anyway.
One cannot look at the sea without wishing for the wings of a swallow.
The forests are the lungs of the world. Iβve always believed if you breathe, youβre an environmentalist.
Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures.
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