Jon Krakauer Quotes

Let's not mince words: Everest doesn't attract a whole lot of well-balanced folks. The self-selection process tends to weed out the cautious and the sensible in favor of those who are single-minded and incredibly driven. Which is a big reason the mountain is so dangerous.

- Jon Krakauer

Antarctica has this mythic weight. It resides in the collective unconscious of so many people, and it makes this huge impact, just like outer space. It's like going to the moon.

- Jon Krakauer

I'm intrigued by fanatics - people who are seduced by the promise, or the illusion, of the absolute.

- Jon Krakauer

The way Everest is guided is very different from the way other mountains are guided, and it flies in the face of values I hold dear: self-reliance, taking responsibility for what you do, making your own decisions, trusting your judgment - the kind of judgment that comes only through paying your dues, through experience.

- Jon Krakauer

You can get a lawyer with two months off or a New York socialite who wants to play at being Lewis and Clark and put them up there, but Everest is still in charge; it can still kick butt.

- Jon Krakauer

Climbing Mount Everest was the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life. I wish I'd never gone. I suffered for years of PTSD and still suffer from what happened. I'm glad I wrote a book about it. But, you know, if I could go back and relive my life, I would never have climbed Everest.

- Jon Krakauer

Everest is not real climbing. It's rich people climbing. It's a trophy on the wall, and they're done... When I say I wish I'd never gone, I really mean that.

- Jon Krakauer

The way to Everest is not a Yellow Brick Road.

- Jon Krakauer

Why climb? That's a question that baffles me. It perplexes me. I really asked that a lot on Everest. I can't justify it. I can't say it's for a good cause. All I can say is look at the history of exploration: it's full of vainglorious pursuits.

- Jon Krakauer

When I was 23, I went to Alaska by myself into the glaciers of the coast range and climbed a mountain by myself. It was incredibly reckless, incredibly stupid. But I was lucky. And I survived, and I came back to tell my story.

- Jon Krakauer

When I was 23, I climbed this mountain in Alaska called Devil's Thumb alone. It was incredibly dangerous, and I did it because I thought that if I did something that hard and pulled it off, my life was gonna be transformed. And of course, nothing happened. But I get the search for purpose.

- Jon Krakauer

I knew that you couldn't make a living simply writing about the outdoors, so I made an effort from the beginning of my freelance career to write about other subjects.

- Jon Krakauer

It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it.

- Jon Krakauer

There's something about being afraid, about being small, about enforced humility that draws me to climbing.

- Jon Krakauer

Almost every magazine piece I've ever written, I felt like I haven't done it justice, like it was just a gloss.

- Jon Krakauer

I love being outdoors, being in the mountains and the desert, and my wife enjoys that too. That's one of the things that sustain our relationship.

- Jon Krakauer

The pieces I've written for 'Outside' magazine are definitely my best work, and they're virtually all about the outdoors.

- Jon Krakauer

Rob Hall was, without doubt, the most competent guide in mountaineering.

- Jon Krakauer

I guess I don't try to justify climbing or defend it, because I can't. I see climbing as a compulsion that, at its best, is no worse than many other compulsions - golf or stamp collecting or growing world-record pumpkins.

- Jon Krakauer

What makes climbing great for me, strangely enough, is this life-and-death aspect. It sounds trite to say, I know, but climbing isn't just another game. It isn't just another sport. It's life itself. Which is what makes it so compelling and also what makes it so impossible to justify when things go bad.

- Jon Krakauer

Most friendly fire incidents aren't investigated properly because of neglect or a natural inclination to cover up the embarrassing fact that they killed one of their own.

- Jon Krakauer

I've had a lot of crappy jobs, but one of my favorites was working as a commercial fisherman in Alaska. What I loved about it was, you got paid for what you caught.

- Jon Krakauer

When I went to Everest, I underestimated things. I just didn't know what altitude could do. Or the cold - I especially didn't appreciate the cold. It can be just debilitating, and things can happen so quickly.

- Jon Krakauer

I think part of the appeal of Antarctica is experiencing some sort of power, the forces of the natural world.

- Jon Krakauer

As I point out in the very first pages of 'Into the Wild,' I approached this book not as a normal, you know, unbiased journalist.

- Jon Krakauer

When I write books, I've learned not to have any expectations that I'm going to change the world.

- Jon Krakauer

You get a compound fracture in Colorado where I live, and you can probably be in a hospital within a matter of hours, certainly within a day.

- Jon Krakauer

Military investigations are designed not to find anyone guilty.

- Jon Krakauer

Military investigations are designed not to find anyone guilty. And you can't investigate up the chain of command, which is a huge impediment.

- Jon Krakauer

Once you believe that God is speaking directly to you, there is no discussion.

- Jon Krakauer

How can you not be a feminist if you have a brain in your head? If you're not a feminist, then you're a problem.

- Jon Krakauer

When I start any book, I have no idea what I'm going to do.

- Jon Krakauer

I'm not even religious, but I get fanaticism. I get the appeal of it.

- Jon Krakauer

I really enjoy researching, and for almost every piece, I research enough to write a book.

- Jon Krakauer

Antarctica is a very alien environment, and you can't survive here more than minutes if you're not equipped properly and doing the right thing all the time.

- Jon Krakauer

The thing that is most beautiful about Antarctica for me is the light. It's like no other light on Earth, because the air is so free of impurities. You get drugged by it, like when you listen to one of your favorite songs. The light there is a mood-enhancing substance.

- Jon Krakauer

Heaven, for me, is one focused project - it's like a weird form of autism.

- Jon Krakauer

Happiness means nothing to me. I just want to have meaning and purpose.

- Jon Krakauer

There is nothing glamorous or romantic about war. It's mostly about random pointless death and misery.

- Jon Krakauer

I never studied writing, but I'd always been a reader and had a secret fantasy about being a writer.

- Jon Krakauer