Quotes from Edmund Hillary

I think it all comes down to motivation. If you really want to do something, you will work hard for it.

Environmental problems are really social problems anyway. They begin with people as the cause and end with people as the victims

There is something about building up a comradeship - that I still believe is the greatest of all feats - and sharing in the dangers with your company of peers. It's the intense effort, the giving of everything you've got. It's really a very pleasant sensation.

I found fear stimulating. Particularly after you've done something that you'd been frightened of at the time, but you carried through and did the job.

Good planning is important. I've also regarded a sense of humor as one of the most important things on a big expedition. When you're in a difficult or dangerous situation, or when you're depressed about the chances of success, someone who can make you laugh eases the tension.

My mother really was the strength in our family. She would sort of keep us in line and I admired her very much .

I never talk about being leaders and all the rest of it. I can only remember one or two occasions in my life when I actually issued orders, and I felt thoroughly miserable after doing it.

Many people have been getting too casual about climbing Everest. I forecast a disaster many times.

I don't spend a lot of time thinking about dying, but I like to think that I've - if it did occur - that I would die peacefully and not make too much of a fuss about it.

I have never regarded myself as a hero, but Tenzing undoubtedly was.

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.

Take advantage of the years of pioneering efforts. You might find this boring, as the young want to rush head on, as it were.