Quotes from Robert Roper

It matters what myths we tell ourselves -- which ideals we choose to honor.

Maybe mountaineering shouldn't be considered heroic at all, since the whole effort is 'useless' and in no way to be compared with sitting down at the wrong lunch counter in the early-sixties South, or going into battle. Nevertheless, situations arise in the useless enterprise of mountaineering that present people with choices, that make emotional and physical demands that few can meet.

Here she was, stretched out on her back on a concrete bench, reading a book. It was The fountainhead , that noxious piece of crap that was then enjoying a certain vogue.

There was no "Russia" anymore in which he might have dwelt in safety and joy