Quotes from Aron Ralston

People say that we're searching for the meaning of life. I don't think that's it at all. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.

dum spiro, spero -Part of the official state motto of South Carolina. Literally, While I breathe, I hope Or more loosely, Where there is life, there is hope.

Eventually, I sickened of people, myself included, who didn't think enough of themselves to make something of themselves—people who did only what they had to and never what they could have done. I learned from them the infected loneliness that comes at the end of every misspent day. I knew I could do better. —MARK TWIGHT, "I Hurt, Therefore I Am

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant. -Horace

I did get myself into this. Somehow, in some convoluted way, it's what I've been looking for in my life. How else did I come to be here? We create our lives. I don't fully understand why, but little by little I get that somehow I've wanted something like this to happen. I've been looking for adventure, and I've found it.

It was the first time the features and formative processes of the desert had made me pause and absorb just how small and brave we are, we the human race.

Desert dawn Rise up early, lift your song On the breath of life that rises from the Glowing stone Feel the rock of ages, smooth against your skin Smell the breath of flowers dancing on the wind Dancing on the Wind

The rock strata of the inner canyon changed from dark umbers and black shadows to immense bands of pastel yellow, white, green, and a hundred shades of red in the mysterious chemistry of twilight.

You'll never find your limits until you've gone too far

And that's where I'm finally at today - my life is about being with my family. This is what's important.

I limited myself to one shout a day. But I didn't like the sound of my voice. It sounded panicked, it sounded scared. And I knew from experience you can't hear more than 50 yards either way down a canyon.

Judging by my degradation in the last 24 hours, I'll be surprised if I make it to Tuesday.

I certainly made mistakes.

What you're looking at there is my arm, going into the rock... and there it is - stuck. It's been without circulation for 24 hours. It's pretty well gone.