There is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.

There's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing

Whenever feasible, pick your team on character, not skill. You can teach skills; you can't teach character.

People who go to the polar regions are statistically less likely to die than salesmen who drive on motorways in England.

The ultimate starting point for planning any adventure or expeditionby far and away the greatest book on earth

While I was serving, I worked as an adventure training officer, teaching soldiers how to ski, canoe and climb.

Rivalry is one of the factors pushing me. While my back was turned, the Norwegians managed to achieve the first Arctic crossing in winter. I didn't want the same to happen in the Antarctic.

As a rule, anything that is pretty you avoid when on an expedition in the polar extremes. Normally anything other than white means a hazard such as a crevasse.

I go on expeditions for the same reason an estate agent sells houses - to pay the bills.

Every new day is the gift of a new divine grace.

You can read everybody. It's not even interesting to tell the truth because to some extent it's false.

He who cries, 'What do I care about universality? I only know what is in me,' does not know even that.

The early study of Euclid made me a hater of geometry.

I have always believed in God.

People like to set the bar high. I like to put the bar on the ground and barely step over it. I like to keep the expectations really low.

A charming woman is a busy woman.

The idea of the solitary hero can be quite an unhealthy one, and we need to pool our efforts and be heroic together!

I want to accept myself completely, just as I am.

I've always found that you can control people better if you don't see too much of them.