Edmund Hillary

I don't spend a lot of time thinking about dying, but I like to think that I've - if it did occur - that I would die peacefully and not make too much of a fuss about it. ”

I was extremely lucky that I had two great wives. It sounds a bit funny to say that, but it's absolutely true. ”

Tourism is a very big economic benefit to the Sherpa people, and also, they have very strong ties to their own social attitudes and their own religion, so fortunately, they're not too influenced by many of our Western attitudes. ”

I am a lucky man. I have had a dream and it has come true, and that is not a thing that happens often to men. ”

I can remember when I first went into the Himalayan area way back in 1951. Money, for instance, was not important at all to the local people. But now, finance has become just as important to them as it is to us, and this is a change maybe not for the better. ”

No one remembers who climbed Mount Everest the second time. ”

I think it all comes down to motivation. If you really want to do something, you will work hard for it. ”