You don't have to be a hero to accomplish great things---to compete. You can just be an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals.
Interpretation
Great achievements don't require extraordinary qualities, just determination and effort.
Edmund Hillary emphasizes that anyone, regardless of their background or status, can achieve remarkable things if they possess the motivation to pursue difficult goals. It highlights the importance of determination and the belief that ordinary individuals can compete and succeed in their endeavors.
In practice
During a motivational speech to youth about pursuing their dreams.
I think I mainly climb mountains because I get a great deal of enjoyment out of it. I never attempt to analyze these things too thoroughly, but I think that all mountaineers do get a great deal of satisfaction out of overcoming some challenge which they think is very difficult for them, or which perhaps may be a little dangerous.
Despite all I have seen and experiences, I still get the same thrill out of glimpsing a tiny patch of snow in a high mountain gully and feel the same urge to climb toward it.
I've always hated the danger part of climbing, and it's great to come down again because it's safe.
Even when you're 50, you can make the effort to improve your standards.
Many people have been getting too casual about climbing Everest. I forecast a disaster many times.
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.
The key is not the will to win... everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.
There are two ways you can go with pain: You can let it destroy you or you can use it as fuel to drive you.
I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been.
Opportunity is a haughty goddess who wastes no time with those who are unprepared. a
See every problem as an opportunity to exercise creative energy.
Be bold. If you're going to make an error, make a doozy, and don't be afraid to hit the ball.
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