Quotes from No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

“Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

“Mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

“Dreams are not made to put us to sleep, but to awaken us.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

“Every person has his or her own Annapurna.” I go on to explain that there were many Annapurnas in my life—challenges I wasn’t sure I could meet—but that “the real Annapurna was my last one.” For each of you out there, your Annapurna might be a tough project at work, a bad illness, or the breakup of a marriage, but the trick is to find a way of converting adversity into something positive, a challenge to look forward to.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

“Your instincts are telling you something. Trust them and listen to them.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

“there is nothing else in life like getting to the summit. What’s more, I’ve always felt that the greater the challenge, the greater the reward.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

“What drives my life is not the desire to get along with other people or make friends so much as a moral obligation to give back as much as—no, more than—I take. That’s karma. It’s really not so far from the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Some”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

“Although I remain uncertain about God or any particular religion, I believe in karma. What goes around, comes around. How you live your life, the respect that you give others and the mountain, and how you treat people in general will come back to you in kindred fashion. I like to talk about what I call the Karma National Bank. If you give up the summit to help rescue someone who’s in trouble, you’ve put a deposit in that bank. And sometime down the road, you may need to make a big withdrawal. People”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

“No matter what the future holds in store, I can say now—out loud, without hesitation—something that, sadly, all too few men and women can ever say: I have lived my dream.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

“Viewed as a whole, climbing all fourteen 8,000ers would have seemed almost impossible, but I took it one day at a time, one step at a time. I was passionate about what I did, and I never gave up. “Whatever challenge you have before you can be accomplished in the same fashion—whether it takes a week, two months, or a year. If you look at the challenge as a whole, it may seem insuperable, but if you break it down into tangible steps, it can seem more reasonable, and ultimately achievable.” The model for that strategy comes from the way I learned to break up the “impossible” 4,000-foot climb to a summit into tiny, manageable pieces: just get to that rock outcrop there, then focus on the ice block up ahead, and so on. For”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

“Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

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