In Antarctica you get to know people so well that in comparison you do not seem to know the people in civilization at all.

Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised.

And I tell you, if you have the desire for knowledge and the power to give it physical expression, go out and explore.

The luxuries of civilization satisfy only those wants which they themselves create.

Take it all in all, I do not believe anybody on earth has a worse time than an Emperor penguin.

If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg.

And if the worst, or best, happens, and Death comes for you in the snow, he comes disguised as Sleep, and you greet him rather as a welcome friend than a gruesome foe.

We are a nation of shop keepers.

I am glad The Worst Journey is coming out in Penguins: after all it is largely about penguins.

Take it all in all, I do not believe anybody on Earth has it worse than an Emperor penguin.

Suddenly, it seems obvious to me: Only fantasy books can make sense of the skewed reality in which I live.

Within perfect walls there is nothing worth protecting. There is, in fact, nothing. And so we exchange privacy for intimacy.

You never walk alone when you have yourself by your side.

I should like to preface my remarks with a personal statement in order that my later remarks will not be misunderstood. I consider myself an atheist.

the secret to happiness is counting your blessings while others are adding up their troubles.

The simplest questions are the most difficult.

The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions - the little, soon forgotten charities of a kiss or a smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.

Living composers writing for big band are very few and far between. There are not a lot of them, and I have a talent for doing it. I am zeroing in on what I do best.

Whatever the natural cause, sin is the true cause of all earthquakes.

We're living longer, we social network alone with our screens, and our depth of feeling gets shallower. Soon it'll be nothing but a tide pool, then a thimble of water, then a micro drop.