"Becoming a 'Sir' is slightly uncomfortable at first, although it is a considerable honor. It is amazing how quickly you become accustomed to it."

"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."

"When I was climbing, I built up a close relationship with the Sherpa people."

"I was definitely very much a country boy."

"Even when you're 50, you can make the effort to improve your standards."

"I was extremely lucky that I had two great wives. It sounds a bit funny to say that, but it's absolutely true."

"I hate being called an 'icon.' I just don't like it. That's all there is to it."

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

"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."

"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."

"Polypro wicks away the sweat. Cotton absorbs it. Ergo, cotton is for suckers"

"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."

"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."

"I am inclined to think that the realm of mythology is where the Yeti rightly belongs."

"The truth is, I'm just a rough old New Zealander who has enjoyed many challenges in his life."

"You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated"

"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."

"There is precious little in civilization to appeal to a Yeti."

"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 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."

"As a youngster I was a great dreamer, reading many books of adventure and walking lonely miles with my head in the clouds."

"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."

"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."

"Once I've decided to do something, I do usually try to carry it through to fruition."