“A voice said, "Climb." And he said, "How shall I climb?the mountains are so steep that I cannot climb."The voice said, "Climb or die."He said, "But how?I see no way up those steep ascents. This that is asked is too hard for me."The voice said, "Climb, or perish, soul and body of theemind and spirit of thee. There is no second chance for any son of man. Climb or die."Then he remembered that he had read in the books of the bravest climbers on the hills of the earth that sometimes they were aware of the presence of a Companion on the mountains who was not one of the earthly party of climbers. And he rememberd a word in the Book of Mountaineers...it heartened him,for it told him that he was created to walk in precarious places, not on the easy levels of life.”

“I wonder if it's like this for mountain climbers, he thought. You climb bigger and bigger mountains and you know that one day one of them is going to be just that bit too steep. But you go on doing it, because it’s so-o good when you breathe the air up there. And you know you'll die falling.”

“There are two kinds of people. Those who climb mountains and those who sit in the shadow of the mountains and critique the climbers.”

“There is wisdom climbing mountains," Maderos said softly. "For they teach us how truly small we are. This is just a pebble within one kingdom. There are higher mountains you must climb." ~ The Wretched of Muirwood”

“It’s funny. I met a man once who did a lot of mountain climbing. I asked him which was harder, ascending or descending? He said without a doubt descending, because ascending you were so focused on reaching the top, you avoided mistakes.The backside of a mountain is a fight against human nature,” he said. “You have to care as much about yourself on the way down as you did on the way up.”

“He had reached his goal. He had climbed the unclimbable mountain”