“So let the way wind up the hill or down, O’er rough or smooth, the journey will be joy; Still seeking what I sought when but a boy, New friendship, high adventure, and a crown. My heart will keep the courage of the quest, And hope the road’s last turn will be the best.”

“I realized that a life without you in it was meaningless. The adventure I was living seemed so dull and lackluster when compared to the way my heart fills with happiness when I see you. I could give it all up, and start a new adventure with you, as husband and wife. Let me protect you, let me take care of you. Let me love you.”

“This hill though high I covent ascend;The difficulty will not me offend;For I perceive the way of life lies here.Come, pluck up, heart; let's neither faint nor fear. ”

“Keeping it real is a full time job. You can never back down on your true thoughts and feelings. Even if you change the way you think or feel at a later time you were and are still keeping it real. Everyone goes through changes within their minds, hearts and lives. I may say I had enough today goodbye, but tomorrow I may realize that you are someone I want to keep in my life so I will hit you up and let you know. It is not being a flip-flopper it is realizing what is truly within your heart. There are few that have the courage to be true to themselves and there are fewer that have the courage to be true to everyone else.”

“Being a McKettrick meant claiming a piece of ground to stand on and putting your roots down deep into it. Holding on, no matter what came at you. It meant loving with passion and taking the rough spots with the smooth. It meant fighting for what you wanted, letting go when that was the best thing to do.”

“I have my doubts about all this real value in mountaineering, in getting to the top of everything and overlooking everything. Satan was the most celebrated of Alpine guides, when he took Jesus to the top of an exceeding high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth. But the joy of Satan in standing on a peak is not a joy in largeness, but a joy in beholding smallness, in the fact that all men look like insects at his feet. It is from the valley that things look large; it is from the level that things look high; I am a child of the level and have no need of that celebrated Alpine guide. I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence cometh my help; but I will not lift up my carcass to the hills, unless it is absolutely necessary. Everything is in an attitude of mind; and at this moment I am in a comfortable attitude. I will sit still and let the marvels and the adventures settle on me like flies. There are plenty of them, I assure you. The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.”