Before the deed comes the thought. Before the achievement comes the dream. Every mountain we climb, we first climb in our mind.

Instead of the god of security, we bow to the greater god of freedom, the freedom to take risks and master danger in order to be intensely alive.

Climbing is a great game-great not in spite of the demands it makes, but because of them. Great because it will not let us give half of ourselves-it demands all of us. It demands our best.

With the best equipment in the world the man with poor judgment is in mortal danger.

Better we raise our skill than lower the climb

A first ascent is a creation in the same sense as is a painting or a song

A simple equation exists between freedom and numbers: the more people, the less freedom.

The rock is a field of battle between our weakness and our strength.

I have to return some videotapes

Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."]

To walk in faith is to confess that we do not know what awaits us, and the faith I have embraced does not promise an easy road.

What will support you consists in your gift, so until you find yourself you will be poor

I think that is the very definition of a family: a group of individuals, bound by the essence of love, who share a life together and yet maintain their unique individuality.

A mistake is not something to be determined after the fact, but in the light of the information until that point

I don't know why, but the older I get the more interested I get in my parents' marriage. And it's interesting to be married yourself, too, because there is an inevitable comparison.

I think what holds people up in creative processes is the expectation of what it is they're doing. It's also the sense of judgement, you know, people editing themselves.

For a brave man deserves a well-endowed girl. [Ger., Denn ein wackerer Mann verdient ein begutertes Madchen.]

I'm a passionate trade unionist.