--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Everest silences you...when you come…" description: "\"Everest silences you...when you come down, nothing seems worth saying, nothing at all. You find the nothingness wrapping you up, like a sound. Non-bein..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec1/salman-rushdie-153_accepting_everest-silences-you-when-you-come-down_1653653.jpg" --- # Everest silences you...when you come down, nothing seems… ![“Everest silences you...when you come down, nothing seems worth saying, nothing at all. You find the nothingness wrapping you up, like a sound. Non-being. You can't keep it up, of course. the world rushes in soon enough. What shuts you up is, I think, the sight you've had of perfection: why speak…” quote by Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec1/salman-rushdie-153_accepting_everest-silences-you-when-you-come-down_1653653.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec1/salman-rushdie-153_accepting_everest-silences-you-when-you-come-down_1653653.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec1/salman-rushdie-153_accepting_everest-silences-you-when-you-come-down_1653653.jpg) > “Everest silences you...when you come down, nothing seems worth saying, nothing at all. You find the nothingness wrapping you up, like a sound. Non-being. You can't keep it up, of course. the world rushes in soon enough. What shuts you up is, I think, the sight you've had of perfection: why speak if you can't manage perfect thoughts, perfect sentences? It feels like a betrayal of what you've been through. But it fades; you accept that certain compromises, closures, are required if you're to continue.” [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. After climbing Everest, the climber feels emptiness and doubts the value of words, confronting perfection and compromise. **In simple terms:** Climbing leads to silence and doubt about perfection. Key Takeaway Accept imperfection and keep speaking. Themes mountaineering existentialism perfection Mood reflective melancholic Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - high altitude climbing - post‑summit reflection - creative writing Key Concepts psychology philosophy literary introspection Questions to Reflect On - What does perfection demand of you? - How do you find meaning after a summit? A Different Perspective Perfection is unattainable; silence can be limiting. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Accepting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accepting/) [Betrayal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/betrayal/) [Certain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/certain/) [Closure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/closure/) [Compromise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compromise/) [Enough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enough/) [Everest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/everest/) [Everest Silences](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/everest-silences-680159/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Manage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/manage/) [Nothingness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nothingness/) [Perfect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perfect/) [Perfection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perfection/) [Saying nothing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/saying-nothing/) [Saying Nothingness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/saying-nothingness-680160/) [Sentences](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sentences/) [Shuts Think](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shuts-think-680161/) [Sight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sight/) [Silence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/silence/) [Silences](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/silences/) [Silences Come](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/silences-come-559137/) [Sound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sound/) [Speak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/speak/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) [Wrapping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wrapping/) ## Related quotes > [He: What’s the matter with you? Me: Nothing. Nothing was slowly clotting my arteries. Nothing slowly numbing my soul. Caught by nothing, saying nothing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/he-what-s-the-matter-with-you-me-nothing-nothing-was-slowly-clotting/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [In the silences I make in the midst of the turmoil of life I have appointments with God. From these silences I come forth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brainerd/in-the-silences-i-make-in-the-midst-of-the-turmoil-of-life-i-have/) [David Brainerd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brainerd/) > [“What shuts you up is, I think, the sight you've had of perfection: why speak if you can't manage perfect thoughts, perfect sentences? 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Either he had finally nothing to say or while having something to say he finally decided not to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/he-sometimes-halted-without-saying-anything-either-he-had-finally/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [The poet wants to ‘say’ something. Why, then, doesn’t he say it directly and fortrightly? Why is he willing to say it only through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cleanth-brooks/the-poet-wants-to-say-something-why-then-doesn-t-he-say-it-directly/) [Cleanth Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cleanth-brooks/) > [Even with the recent story about the nurse killing herself in King Edward Hospital, there's no blame placed on Kate Middleton, who was in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-morrissey/even-with-the-recent-story-about-the-nurse-killing-herself-in-king/) [Steven Morrissey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-morrissey/) > [Yet we must say something when those who say the most are saying nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/yet-we-must-say-something-when-those-who-say-the-most-are-saying/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ We went to America a few times and \[Brian\] Epstein always tried to waffle on at us about saying nothing about Vietnam. 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I remember in 1989, two months before the fall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-m-not-a-prophet-but-i-always-thought-it-was-natural-for/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [I'd wanted to create a storm so that I could become more famous and richer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-d-wanted-to-create-a-storm-so-that-i-could-become-more-famous-and/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [Who what am I? My answer: I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/who-what-am-i-my-answer-i-am-the-sum-total-of-everything-that-went/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [“...proving once again that there was no escape from recurrence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/proving-once-again-that-there-was-no-escape-from-recurrence/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [“information, in a stream-of-consciousness soliloquy that revealed the extent to which he had internalised the adversarial fragmentation of American culture and made it a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/information-in-a-stream-of-consciousness-soliloquy-that-revealed-the/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [A little bit of one story joins onto an idea from another, and hey presto, . . . not old tales but new ones.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/a-little-bit-of-one-story-joins-onto-an-idea-from-another-and-hey/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [I'm a novelist. Fortunately I don't have to rule the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-m-a-novelist-fortunately-i-don-t-have-to-rule-the-world/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [The First Amendment defends all forms of speech including hate speech, which is why groups like Ku Klux Klan are allowed to utter their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/the-first-amendment-defends-all-forms-of-speech-including-hate-speech/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) [Explore all 1,087 Salman Rushdie quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) ## More Accepting quotes > [From Augustine down, theologians have tried to compel people to accept their special interpretation of the Scripture, and the tortures of the inquisition, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matilda-joslyn-gage/from-augustine-down-theologians-have-tried-to-compel-people-to-accept/) [Matilda Joslyn Gage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matilda-joslyn-gage/) > [Laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing! 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