George Mallory quote #129 from Climbing Everest: The Complete Writings of George Mallory

People ask me What is the use of climbing Mount Everest and my answer must at once be It is of no use.There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh we may learn a little about the behaviour of the human body at high altitudes and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver not a gem nor any coal or iron... If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward then you wont see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is after all the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to live. That is what life means and what life is for.

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