Quotes from Ann Bancroft

The voices of women need to be heard. The volume needs to be turned up.

Running is my bedrock activity.

I'm sort of a strange bird.

I love that place where you get in running where you're just never out of breath and you just feel like you could go forever. I love that. I love feeling strong.

I think that women on expeditions often get sucked into giving 150 percent of themselves because they feel they have to prove themselves physically equal to men. We get ourselves into trouble and burn out.

My brother Bill, who is a year older, is a climber, and when I was in the seventh grade, he taught me how to rappel off the frozen waterfall in our backyard.

I have a whole, you know, pocket full of dreams I want to achieve. I don't know in which order they're going to fall.

A life lesson for me is, how do you muster the courage to take on a new risk? Whether it's starting up a business or taking on a new project or expedition. I think the risks that we take are all relative to the risk-taker.

I'm lucky I had some teachers who saw something in me.

I get stubborn and dig in when people tell me I can't do something and I think I can. It goes back to my childhood when I had problems in school because I have a learning disability.

This journey is not over. Our education initiatives have so much momentum, and we're committed to sharing even more stories from the Arctic when we return.

I had no doubts I could go to the pole. I may not be as strong, but I make up for physical strength in other areas, like steadiness and not panicking under stress.

I wanted to be a teacher, but I was a lousy student, one of the slowest readers. It was a tremendous struggle. But I'm lucky I had some teachers who saw something in me.

A life lesson for me is, how do you muster the courage to take on a new risk? Whether it's starting up a business or taking on a new project or expedition. I think the risks that we take are all relative to the risk-taker.

Zen is not interested in high-flown statements; it wants its pupil to bite his apple and not discuss it.

My first expedition was at about the age of eight.

Water links us all as human beings. Everyone needs water, and we all have challenges about it, no matter where we live. Yet even in the U.S., people aren't aware of problems facing water.

To push behind the dog sled and run in front of the dog sled. That was always an interesting job.

And then there's also this element of - some people would describe it as spirits or a presence that appears when things are very difficult, physically and emotionally. You know, when you're really putting out. So the third man aura is sort of an appearance. It's the yeti.

For me, exploration is about that journey to the interior, into your own heart. I'm always wondering, how will I act at my moment of truth? Will I rise up and do what's right, even if every fiber of my being is telling me otherwise?

I love weights, but it's too far to get to the gym. So I make the farm my gym: I split wood and haul tires and do work on the farm, and that's sort of my weight training portion.

Getting through high school and college was one of my greatest achievements.

I do not think about being beautiful. What I devote most of my time to is being healthy.

I wanted to be a teacher, but I was a lousy student, one of the slowest readers. It was a tremendous struggle. But I'm lucky I had some teachers who saw something in me.