QUOTES by Edmund Hillary
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"I can remember when I first went into the Himalayan area way back in 1951. Money, for instance, was not important at all to the local people. But now, finance has become just as important to them as it is to us, and this is a change maybe not for the better."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I've always hated the danger part of climbing, and it's great to come down again because it's safe."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I don't regard myself as a cracking good climber. I'm just strong in the back. I have a lot of enthusiasm, and I'm good on ice."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"Becoming a 'Sir' is slightly uncomfortable at first, although it is a considerable honor. It is amazing how quickly you become accustomed to it."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I like to think of Everest as a great mountaineering challenge, and when you've got people just streaming up the mountain - well, many of them are just climbing it to get their name in the paper, really."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"When I was climbing, I built up a close relationship with the Sherpa people."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I was extremely lucky that I had two great wives. It sounds a bit funny to say that, but it's absolutely true."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I hate being called an 'icon.' I just don't like it. That's all there is to it."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"Take advantage of the years of pioneering efforts. You might find this boring, as the young want to rush head on, as it were."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I realised a little bit to my astonishment that I can give a lecture for a thousand people, and there will be this tumultuous applause, so, you know, I have the feeling well, it can't be all that bad."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"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."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"Polypro wicks away the sweat. Cotton absorbs it. Ergo, cotton is for suckers"
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I don't know if I particularly want to be remembered for anything. I personally do not think I'm a great gift to the world. I've been very fortunate."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I think Himalayan climbers tend to mature fairly late. I think most of the successful Himalayan climbers have ranged from 28 to just over 40, really."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I am inclined to think that the realm of mythology is where the Yeti rightly belongs."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"The truth is, I'm just a rough old New Zealander who has enjoyed many challenges in his life."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated"
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"My mother was a schoolteacher and very keen that I go to a city school, so although it was fairly impoverished times, I traveled every day to the Auckland Grammar School."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"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."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"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."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"As a youngster I was a great dreamer, reading many books of adventure and walking lonely miles with my head in the clouds."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"My relationship with the mountains actually started when I was 16. Every year, a group used to be taken from Auckland Grammar down to the Tangariro National Park for a skiing holiday."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"If I wished to do something, even if I couldn't find anyone who wanted to make the effort with me, I would go out solo climbing. I did find solo climbing very challenging and a little frightening. You knew that you were completely on your own, and you had to overcome all the problems and possible dangers."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"Once I've decided to do something, I do usually try to carry it through to fruition."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"My most important projects have been the building and maintaining of schools and medical clinics for my dear friends in the Himalaya and helping restore their beautiful monasteries, too."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I believe that of all the things I have done, exciting though many of them have been, there's no doubt in my mind that the most worthwhile have been the establishing of schools and hospitals, and the rebuilding of monasteries in the mountains."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"When I was 50 years old, I actually decided to draw up a list of half a dozen things that I really hadn't done very well, and I was going to make efforts to improve. One of them was skiing, and I really did become a very much better skier."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"On the summit of Everest, I had a feeling of great satisfaction to be first there."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I really haven't liked the commercialization of mountaineering, particularly of Mt. Everest. By paying $65,000, you can be conducted to the summit by a couple of good guides."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"Tourism is a very big economic benefit to the Sherpa people, and also, they have very strong ties to their own social attitudes and their own religion, so fortunately, they're not too influenced by many of our Western attitudes."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"Many people have been getting too casual about climbing Everest. I forecast a disaster many times."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I think the really good mountaineer is the man with the technical ability of the professional and with the enthusiasm and freshness of approach of the amateur."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I'm sure the feeling of fear, as long as you can take advantage of it and not be rendered useless by it, can make you extend yourself beyond what you would regard as your capacity. If you're afraid, the blood seems to flow freely through the veins, and you really do feel a sense of stimulation."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I think my first thought on reaching the summit- of course, I was very, very pleased to be there, naturally - but my first thought was one of a little bit of surprise. I was a little bit surprised that here I was, Ed Hillary, on top of Mt. Everest. After all, this is the ambition of most mountaineers."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"The Sherpas play a very important role in most mountaineering expeditions, and in fact many of them lead along the ridges and up to the summit."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"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."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"While on top of Everest, I looked across the valley towards the great peak Makalu and mentally worked out a route about how it could be climbed. It showed me that even though I was standing on top of the world, it wasn't the end of everything. I was still looking beyond to other interesting challenges."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"You don't have to be a hero to accomplish great things---to compete. You can just be an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"Adventuring can be for the ordinary person with ordinary qualities, such as I regard myself."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary
"I have enjoyed great satisfaction from my climb of Everest and my trips to the poles. But there's no doubt that my most worthwhile things have been the building of schools and medical clinics."
Quote by -Edmund Hillary