"Alex here. (...) Ron, I really enjoy all the help you have given me and the times we spent together. I hope that you will not be too depressed by our ...
Happiness [is] only real when shared
More Jon Krakauer quotes
"I read somewhere... how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong... to measure yourself at least once.
"Mr. Franz, I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don't want one.
"What if I were smiling and running into your arms? Would you see then what I see now?
"Some people feel like they don't deserve love. They walk away quietly into empty spaces, trying to close the gaps of the past.
"I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here... rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth.
"When you forgive, you love.
"When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God’s light shines upon you.
"The sea's only gifts are harsh blows, and occasionally the chance to feel strong. Now I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the w...
"But [Everett] and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.
"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life...
"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, i...
"It is hardly unusual for a young man to be drawn to a pursuit considered reckless by his elders; engaging in risky behavior is a rite of passage in ou...
"When Alex left for Alaska," Franz remembers, "I prayed. I asked God to keep his finger on the shoulder of that one; I told him that boy was special. B...
"Because I was alone, however, even the mundane seemed charged with meaning. The ice looked colder and more mysterious, the sky a cleaner shade of blue...