“Maybe mountaineering shouldn't be considered heroic at all, since the whole effort is 'useless' and in no way to be compared with sitting down at the wrong lunch counter in the early-sixties South, or going into battle. Nevertheless, situations arise in the useless enterprise of mountaineering that present people with choices, that make emotional and physical demands that few can meet.”

“It matters what myths we tell ourselves -- which ideals we choose to honor.”

“The fragile and ancient hurt that seeps out of adults when they speakof wronged childhoods.”

“Don't go back to teaching - it sucks the marrow from your sould andyour wisdom fades into the brick brains of those who can not learnwhat they do not know. Teaching is a wall falling into a vermilionsea. What I like most about you is your yellow flaring laugh and itlashing joyfully against the wind of your anguish.”

“Browns seek knowledge, Blues meddle in causes, and Whites consider the questions of truth with implacable logic. We all do some of it all, of course. But to be Green means to stand ready. In the Trolloc Wars, we were often called the Battle Ajah. All Aes Sedai helped where and when they could, but the Green Ajah alone was always with the armies, in almost every battle. We were the counter to the dreadlords. The Battle Ajah. And now we stand ready, for the Trollocs to come south again, for Tarmon Gai'don. the Last Battle. We will be there. That is what it means to be Green. -Alanna”

“In many ways we were what Billy and Ruth Graham called 'happily incompatible'.”

“Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion.”