Geography was not furthered by the achievement, scientific progress was scarcely hastened, and nothing new was discovered. Yet the names of Hillary and Tenzing went instantly into all languages as the names of heroes, partly because they really were men of heroic mold but chiefly because they represented so compellingly the spirit of their time.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Even though the 1953 climb had little scientific value, it captured the heroic spirit of its time.
- In plain terms
- The climb mattered more for symbolism than science or discovery.
- What can you take from it?
- Symbolic achievements can inspire more than practical ones.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Why do certain achievements become legendary?
- What defines a heroic moment?
Another view
Practical achievements often have more lasting impact than symbolic ones.
More from Edmund Hillary
The beekeeper and the Sherpa, one from a remote former colony of the Crown on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, the other from the edge of the heavens. They affir…
Permalink to quote #25 The real point of mountain climbing, as of most hard sports, is that it voluntarily tests the human spirit against the fiercest odds, not that it achieves anyt…
Permalink to quote #27 You defeated me! But you won't defeat me again! Because you have grown all you can grow ... but I am still growing!
Permalink to quote #24
Related quotes
They [the Greeks] were the first Westerners; the spirit of the West, the modern spirit, is a Greek discovery and the place of the Greeks is in the modern world.
Edith HamiltonEdith Hamilton quote #7 And thus He mused: 'From here, indeed Shall we strike terror in the Swede? And here a city by our labor Founded, shall gall our haughty neighbor; 'Here cut' - …
Aleksandr PushkinAleksandr Pushkin quote #3 Every advantage in the past is judged in the light of the final issue.
DemosthenesDemosthenes quote #3