There is something about the quotes of our heroes and famous people that inspire, motivate, and teach us lessons. Climbing quotes are the same, they make us get off the couch, chalk up our hands, and grab the wall.
We’ve collected X of our favorite climbing quotes and made this collection for you! I hope these quotes inspire, push, and motivate you to push your limits, enjoy your climbing, and never stop exploring!
55 Climbing Quotes
We should mention, not all of these quotes are from climbers specifically. We do think they all apply though. There are some pieces of advice so universal they belong on this list, no matter who you are!
There is also some advice that helps us focus and stay true to the things we love. If you like climbing, then these quotes will help you always be climbing. If you like to travel, then the quotes about traveling will help you always be on the road. As we all know, we can never stop exploring! So read these quotes to remind yourself why we climb and explore!
- “Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.”
– Barry Finlay - “There are two kinds of climbers, those who climb because their heart sings when they’re in the mountains, and all the rest.”
– Alex Lowe - “The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters” – Conrad Anker
- “It’s wonderful to climb the liquid mountains of the sky. Behind me and before me is God and I have no fears.”
– Hellen Keller - “Climbing here saved my life from the confines of materialistic illusion that we’re taught as children in school. The way I see it, there are two worlds: there’s the world where nothing is sacred except money, and the other world where everything is sacred.”
– Ron Kauk - “Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.”
– Anatoli Boukreev - “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”
– Michael Jordan - “Better we raise our skill than lower the climb.”
– Royal Robbins - “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.”
– T.S. Eliot - “There are a dozen reasons for climbing, some bad, and I’ve used most of them myself. The worst are fame and money. Commonly people cite exploration or discovery, but that’s rarely relevant in today’s world. The only good reason to climb is to improve yourself.”
– Yvon Chouinard - “The best part of climbing is when it all clicks and gravity ceases to exist.”
– Chris Sharma - “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”
– Nelson Mandela - “Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.”
– John Muir - “The mountains are calling and I must go.”
– John Muir - Anytime you finish a climb, there’s always the next thing you can try.
– Alex Honnold - “Never did I explore life as intensively in its beautiness, as while hanging on two fingertips freely over the deep hollow.” – Wolfgang Güllich
- “Getting to the summit is optional, getting down is mandatory.”
– Ed Viesturs (from No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World’s 14 Highest Peaks) - “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”
– Muhammad Ali - “The best view comes after the hardest climb.”
– Unknown - “The climb might be tough and challenging, but the view is worth it. There is a purpose for that pain; you just can’t always see it right away.”
– Victoria Arlen - “I would say that the need to climb comes from that tough, lonely place of searching for your dignity. You know, that place – where we actually choose to confront our own weaknesses and fears, where we rebel against the terror of death – is really about dignity. That’s why alpinism is not just the act of ascending a mountain, but also inwardly of ascending above yourself.”
– Voytek Kurtyka - “Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb” – Greg Child
- “He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche - “I think I will be able to, in the end, rise above the clouds and climb the stairs to Heaven, and I will look down on my beautiful life.”
– Yayoi Kusama - “There’s no glory in climbing a mountain if all you want to do is to get to the top. It’s experiencing the climb itself – in all its moments of revelation, heartbreak, and fatigue – that has to be the goal.”
– Karyn Kusama - “Every man should pull a boat over a mountain once in his life.”\
– Werner Herzog - “You are not in the mountains. The mountains are in you.”
– John Muir - “It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun.”
– Barry Blanchard - “You never climb the same mountain twice, not even in memory. Memory rebuilds the mountain, changes the weather, retells the jokes, remakes all the moves.”
– Lito Tejada-Flores - “I’m always looking for a new challenge. There are a lot of mountains to climb out there. When I run out of mountains, I’ll build a new one.”
– Sylvester Stallone - ‘’The most dangerous thing you can do in life is play it safe.’’
– Casey Neistat - “There are far better things ahead than the ones we leave behind.”
– C.S. Lewis - “In this short span between my fingertips and the smooth edge and these tense feet cramped to a crystal ledge, I hold the life of a man.”
– Geoffrey Winthrop Young - “I don’t think I would become a climber if I were young man now. What is freedom to a bird if it is in the middle of a flock?”
– John Gill - “One does not climb to attain enlightenment, rather one climbs because they are enlightened.”
– Zen Master Futomaki - “When you ride your bike, you’re working your legs, but your mind is on a treadmill. When you play chess, your mind is clicking along, but your body is stagnating. Climbing brings it together in a beautiful, magical way. The adrenaline is flowing, and it’s flowing all the time.”
– Pat Ament - “In climbing you are always faced with new problems in which you must perform using intuitive movements, and then later analyze them to figure out why they work, and then learn from them.”
– Wolfgang Gullich - “The best climber in the world is the one having the most fun!”
– Alex Lowe - “The harder you fall, the heavier your heart; the heavier your heart, the stronger you climb; the stronger you climb, the higher your pedestal.”
– Criss Jami - “Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are naught without prudence and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end.”
– Edward Whymper - “Climbing may be hard, but it’s easier than growing up.”
– Stewart M. Green - “I’ve climbed with some of the best climbers in the world, more importantly, to me, they are some of the best people in the world. That’s another reason why I climb.”
– Jim Wickwire - “To be a climber one has to accept that gratification is rarely immediate.”
– Bernadette McDonald - “As I hammered in the last bolt and staggered over the rim, it was not at all clear to me who was the conqueror and who was the conquered. I do recall that El Cap seemed to be in much better condition than I was.”
– Warren Harding - “Without a rope there is no fear because to fall is unthinkable.”
– Catherine Destivelle - “Climbing is often group activity and it’s always inspiring to see how other people, who share your passions, do things.”
– Fred Nicole - A man does not climb a mountain without bringing some of it away with him and leaving something of himself upon it.”
– Sir Martin Conway - “We look up. For weeks, for months, that is all we have done. Look up. And there it is-the top of Everest. Only it is different now: so near, so close, only a little more than a thousand feet above us. It is no longer just a dream, a high dream in the sky, but a real and solid thing, a thing of rock and snow, that men can climb. We make ready. We will climb it. This time, with God’s help, we will climb on to the end.”
– Tenzing Norgay - “Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.”
– Hermann Buhl - “Everyone wants to live on the top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.”
– Andy Rooney - “Stand tall on the summit after a tedious climb. Take in the remarkable scenery and the exhilaration of accomplishment. But don’t pause for long; there are greater mountains to climb while you still possess the drive and capacity to do so.”
– Richelle E. Goodrich - “Static people don’t fall! You fell because you were either climbing or running. This is a sign that you are on track. Don’t stop where you fall; rise up and do it again!”
– Israelmore Ayivor - “In the mountains there are only two grades: You can either do it, or you can’t.”
– Rusty Baille - “The mountains have rules. they are harsh rules, but they are there, and if you keep to them you are safe. A mountain is not like men. A mountain is sincere. The weapons to conquer it exist inside you, inside your soul.”
– Walter Bonatti - “Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous.”
– Reinhold Messner
The Final Pitch
Climbing quotes will have you climbing higher and higher! Life is a mountain. In order to overcome challenges, we have to climb more and more. We have the drive and capacity to do so. So climb it.
Our writer/editor and youngest team member, Nick is in school for journalism with a minor in climbing. Just kidding. There is no minor for climbing. We wish though!
Nick has the benefit of being fairly new to the world of climbing, and thus is able to look at our content and make sure we explain things in a way both experts and people who have never put foot on a wall will understand!
