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.
Worrying is wasted time. Use the same energy for doing something about whatever worries you.
A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder.
They may be smarter than you. They may have more money than you. They may come from a different city or a better family. But they can NEVER outwork you. And they can NEVER outprepare you. And they just can't outpractice you. And that's why you'll win.
Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.
You know, you do need mentors, but in the end, you really just need to believe in yourself.
You don't think. It's all instinct. If you stop to think, you're gone.
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