Unlike most of life, what you do really matters. Your actions have real consequences. You have to pay attention and focus, and that's very satisfying. It forces you to pay great attention and you lose yourself in the task at… — Jon Krakauer Copy Share Image
Hours slide by like minutes. The accumulated clutter of day-to-day existence — the lapses of conscience, the unpaid bills, the bungled opportunities, the dust under the couch, the inescapable prison of your genes — all of it is temporarily forgotten,… — Jon Krakauer Copy Share Image
Early on a difficult climb, especially a solo climb, you’re hyper-aware of the abyss pulling at your back, constantly feeling its call, its immense… — Jon Krakauer Copy Share Image
“Climbing mattered. The danger bathed the world in a halogen glow that caused everything—the sweep of the rock, the orange and yellow lichens, the… — Jon Krakauer Copy Share Image
“It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if… — Jon Krakauer Copy Share Image
He read a lot. He used a lot of big words. I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he… — Jon Krakauer Copy Share Image
But [Everett] and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do. — Jon Krakauer Copy Share Image
“he was ready, perhaps, to shed a little of the armor he wore around his heart, that upon returning to civilization, he intended to… — Jon Krakauer Copy Share Image
“Continually question climbing pursuits. Do they draw one back to the climbing community? Or do they lead along the [inner-directed] path? This questioning generates… — Jon Krakauer Copy Share Image
“The boy unmasked the gaping void in Franz's life even as he helped fill it.” — Jon Krakauer Copy Share Image
“Unlike Muir and Thoreau, McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large but, rather, to explore the… — Jon Krakauer Copy Share Image
I'm intrigued by fanatics - people who are seduced by the promise, or the illusion, of the absolute. — Jon Krakauer Copy Share Image
You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in… — Jon Krakauer Copy Share Image
I mean, how can you not be a feminist if you have a brain in your head? If you’re not a feminist, then you’re… — Jon Krakauer Copy Share Image