181 Quotes by Reinhold Messner

After every few steps, we huddle over our ice axes mouths agape, struggling for sufficient breath to keep our muscles going... at a height of 8800 metres, we can no longer keep on our feet while we rest. We crumple to our knees, clutching our axes... Every ten or fifteen steps we collapse into the snow to rest, then crawl on again.

I think my cultural work is more important than the adventures I did. The adventures are not important for human beings. It's the conquering of the useless.

On Mount Everest it feels as if you are in the womb, but on K2 you are always out on the edge.

Ueli Steck, I'm absolutely certain, had a very strong inner drive to keep pushing. He set very high standards for himself.

Each mountain in the Dolomites is like a piece of art.

The only possibility to have a knowledge of both the Earth's nature and our own internal nature is through traditional climbing when you go on your own, far from safety, and encounter the unknown.

Life is about daring to carry out your ideas. And for me, it always comes back to the wilderness, nature, mountains.

I learned to ski in the Dolomites at the age of five. Ski lifts didn't exist then, so I did everything on foot.

Once you lose your credibility, you can never restore it.