"We can't fail if we never give it an honest try, or whatever Yoda didn't say." — Aidan Multhauf Alpinist Magazine, Issue 87, "Twenty Classic Climbs in Twenty Days"

"He was an artist and life was his medium." — Derek Franz Alpinist Magazine, Issue 87, "Fabulous Roman Candles"

"Because nature is not a place to visit. Nature is who we are." — Ada Limón You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World

"I won’t be here when the worst of what’s coming comes. I think about it and then I try not to think about it. And then I try to think because if we don’t—but I can hardly grasp it. (on climate change)" — Ellen Bass Lighthouse, You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World

"What do you mean the wind is not alive? " — Traci Brimhall Mouth of the Canyon, You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World

"When you talk about rules, you can sound like a fuddy-duddy, but Rules are actually very creative. They are not just for rule-followers. In fact, often as soon as I make a Rule, I realize I will eventually have to—will want to— break it. It’s only a matter of time. Rules are the structure that enable us to go a little wild on a regular basis. Preferably every day." — Katie Arnold The Rules, Work in Process

"The night gradually faded and dawn turned to morning, the great peaks reassembling themselves on both sides of the valley, forming a massive corridor." — Jeff Lowe Khumbu Possibilities: Survival at the Limits of the Known, Summit Journal, Issue 321

"I really try to see [each spot I visit] with new eyes, because I don't want to become complacent just because I've lived here for so long. I want to see everything new all the time. [I want] to be always open and aware of my environment and the new things that it's telling me, or the old things that it's reminding me of." — Alexandra de Steiguer HumaNature Podcast Episode 124: The Woman of Star Island

"Fear lives in a past experience or in a future assumption of what might happen." — Kimmy Fasani Outside Podcast: What Snowboarding Has to do With Parenthood, Loss, and Cancer

"[Doubt is part of my process.] We’re conditioned to see doubt as a sign of insecurity and weakness. I wanted to be one of those people who roll through challenges without a second thought. But doubt is natural, and when we learn to stop resisting it, it becomes a potent source of strength. It doesn’t hinder our creativity. It fuels it. Doubt means we’re asking questions, which means we’re alive and awake, paying attention, willing to do things without a guaranteed outcome, to stretch beyond our edge, and grow in unknown ways." — Katie Arnold What the HELL Was I Thinking?, Work in Process

"[C]ontent will not make us content. (Talking about how there's too much meaningless content online, and the ever-present urge to consume it all won't make us content, aka happy. I need to work on this one!)" — Katie Arnold Content, Work in Process

"I didn't need to "get away", I needed to get "to", to simplicity. I wanted to be lean and hard and sunbrowned and kind. Instead I felt fat and soft and white and mean." — Audrey Suthernland via Stephen Casimiro "Lean and Hard and Sunbrowned and Kind", Adventure Journal

"Adventure. The word is ad-venture, to venture toward. No big declarations of peril, challenge, daring, conquest. No guarantee of making it. Just trying toward." — Audrey Sutherland Paddling North

"The mountains that enfold the vale / With walls of granite, steep and high, / Invite the fearless foot to scale / Their stairway toward the sky. ... Say not, "Too poor," but freely give; / Sigh not, "Too weak," but boldly try, / You never can begin to live / Until you dare to die." — Henry Van Dyke Doors of Daring

"A rottener mass of rock is inconceivable. The core may still be solid but the "surrounding tuffs" are seeking a lower level in large quantities." — Albert Ellingwood First to Climb Lizard Head, Outing Magazine

"Resilience doesn't come from comfort. And so I'm not wishing you a life free of discomfort. I'm wishing you a life where you can handle the discomforts that are inevitably going to come. And I think about that's what my journey in the mountains so much has taught me is not how to prevent all of the things that don't feel good, but how to lean into the ones that are there to teach us." — Melissa Arnot Reid Outside Podcast, "Climbing Everest is Easy Compared to Surviving an Abusive Parent"

"Public lands are our public commons, breathing spaces in a country that is increasingly holding its breath. ... These are places of peace and renewal, where landscapes of beauty become landscapes of our imaginations. We stand before a giant sequoia and remember the size of our hearts instead of the weight of our egos." — Terry Tempest Williams "Public lands are our public commons", The New York Times

"Kai Whaley during his unplanned descent of Shaolin (V17), Red Rock National Conservation Area, NV. (I love the phrase "unplanned descent" to describe falling!)" — American Alpine Club Guidebook XIV

"We experience all sorts of “lasts” without necessarily recognizing it in the moment. We forget, swept up in the next chapter of our lives. And while some things are meant to be fleeting, others we aren’t so quick to let go of. And that is how you know what’s really important to you." — Jen Gurecki Prison, birthing children, and cancer, Redefining Radical

"I don't like fear. I want to win against it. It keeps me alert, but I won't obey it." — Jan Farrell, speed skier Hard Pack Ski Magazine, Issue 5, "The Speed Racers"