Quotes by Explorers

The great and almost only comfort about being a woman is that one can always pretend to be more stupid than one is and no one is surprised.
Freya Stark
I demolish my bridges behind me ... then there is no choice but forward.
Firdtjof Nansen
Often I have found that the one thing that can save is the thing which appears most to threaten ... one has to go down into what one most fears and in that process ... comes a saving flicker of light and energy that even if it does not produce the courage of a hero at any rate enables a trembling mortal to take one step further.
Laurens van der Post
All the feeling which my father could not put into words was in his hand- any dog child or horse would recognize the kindness of it.
Freya Stark
A woman that's too soft and sweet is like tapioca pudding-fine for them as likes it.
Osa Johnson
Style is something peculiar to one person it expresses one personality and one only it cannot be shared.
Freya Stark
I can't write a book commensurate with Shakespeare but I can write a book by me.
Sir Walter Raleigh
Do what thy manhood bids thee do.
Sir Richard Burton
I can't say I was ever lost but I was bewildered once for three days.
Daniel Boone
It is not truth but opinion that can travel the world without a passport.
Walter Raleigh
Time is the sea in which men grow are born or die.
Freya Stark
Do what thy manhood bids thee do.
Sir Richard Burton
I can't write a book commensurate with Shakespeare but I can write a book by me.
Sir Walter Raleigh
I can't say I was ever lost but I was bewildered once for three days.
Daniel Boone
It is not truth but opinion that can travel the world without a passport.
Walter Raleigh
Time is the sea in which men grow are born or die.
Freya Stark
Life is better than death I believe if only because it is less boring and because it has fresh peaches in it.
Thomas Walker
Curiosity is the one thing invincible in Nature.
Freya Stark
One of the best safeguards of our hopes I have suggested is to be able to mark off the areas of hopelessness and to acknowledge them to face them directly not with despair but with the creative intent of keeping them from polluting all the areas of possibility.
William F. Lynch
It's really important that as women we tell our stories. That is what helps seed our imaginations.
Ann Bancroft
Hatreds are the cinders of affection.
Walter Raleigh
An Arabian proverb says there are four sorts of men: He who knows not and knows not he knows not: he is a fool-shun him. He who knows not and knows he knows not: he is simple-teach him. He who knows and knows not he knows: he is asleep-wake him. He who knows and knows he knows: he is wise-follow him.
Lady Isabel Burton
There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.
Freya Stark
One must never look for happiness: one meets it by the way.
Isabelle Eberhardt
Perhaps the best function of parenthood is to teach the young creature to love with safety so that it may be able to venture unafraid when later emotion comes the thwarting of the instinct to love is the root of all sorrow and not sex only but divinity itself is insulted when it is repressed. To disapprove to condemn-the human soul shrivels under barren righteousness.
Freya Stark
Absence is one of the most useful ingredients of family life and to do it rightly is an art like any other.
Freya Stark
All our acts have sacramental possibilities.
Freya Stark
It is the greatest shot of adrenaline to be doing what you've wanted to do so badly. You almost feel like you could fly without the plane.
Charles Lindbergh
Things good in themselves ... perfectly valid in the integrity of their origins become fetters if they cannot alter.
Freya Stark
Organized religion is making Christianity political rather than making politics Christian.
Laurens van der Post
The most ominous of fallacies: the belief that things can be kept static by inaction.
Freya Stark
Death does not frighten me but dying obscurely and above all uselessly does.
Isabelle Eberhardt
Suffering raises up those souls that are truly great it is only small souls that are made mean-spirited by it.
Alexandra David-Neel
I tend to like strong female characters. It just interests me dramatically. A strong male character isn't interesting because it has been done and it's so cliched. A weak male character is interesting: somebody else hasn't done it a hundred times. A strong female character is still interesting to me because it hasn't been done all that much, finding the balance of femininity and strength.[From a 1986 Fangoria interview]
James Cameron
In the desert I had found a freedom unattainable in civilization; a life unhampered by possessions, since everything that was not a necessity was an encumbrance. I had found too, a comradeship inherent in the circumstances, and the belief that tranquility was to be found there.
Wilfred Thesiger
The new world will be a place of answers and no questions, because the only questions left will be answered by computers, because only computers will know what to ask
James Cameron
I know you're the only pistol champion we have, but I'd rather they no see enough of you to hit. You're also the only wife I have...""You're so sweet.'"...at the moment.
Clive Cussler
False accusations of rape are a form of rape itself. . . . . The power to falsely accuse a man of rape is a coveted power that permits women to destroy a man with a mere accusation . . . . notwithstanding widespread propaganda to the contrary, the real rate of false accusations of rape, according to FBI statistics sixty percent (60%).
John Davis
I am above the forest region, amongst grand rocks & such a torrent as you see in Salvator Rosa's paintings vegetation all a scrub of rhodos. with Pines below me as thick & bad to get through as our Fuegian Fagi on the hill tops, & except the towering peaks of P. S. [perpetual snow] that, here shoot up on all hands there is little difference in the mt scenery—here however the blaze of Rhod. flowers and various colored jungle proclaims a differently constituted region in a naturalist's eye & twenty species here, to one there, always are asking me the vexed question, where do we come from?[Letter to Charles Darwin 24 Jun 1849]
Joseph Dalton Hooker
This aspect of animated nature, in which man is nothing, has something in it strange and sad....Here, in a fertile country, adorned with eternal verdure, we seek in vain the traces of the power of man; we seem to be transported into a world different from that which gave us birth.
Alexander von Humboldt
Shall a mangrave his sorrows upon a stone when he hath but need to write them onthe water? Nay, oh /She/, I will live my day, and grow old with mygeneration, and die my appointed death, and be forgotten.
H. Rider Haggard
Think then what it is to live on here eternally and yet be human; toage in soul and see our beloved die and pass to lands whither we maynot hope to follow; to wait while drop by drop the curse of the longcenturies falls upon our imperishable being, like water slow drippingon a diamond that it cannot wear, till they be born anew forgetful ofus, and again sink from our helpless arms into the void unknowable.
H. Rider Haggard
I'd like to be born the son of a duke with 90,000 pounds a year, on an enormous estate.... And I'd like to have the most enormous library, and I'd like to think that I could read those books forever and forever, and die unlamented, unknown, unsung, unhonored - and packed with information.
Richard Francis Burton
To survive the Canadian winter, one needs a body of brass, eyes of glass, and blood made of brandy.
Louis Armand de Lom d'Arce Lahontan
Take what life can give you, Ana, and do not trouble about the offerings which are laid in the tombs for time to crumble.
H. Rider Haggard
Nature can be so soothing to the tormented mind
Alexander von Humboldt
And as for myself, I tell you, I have had too much luck these last years. Do you believe that a man's luck can run forever? I know that it can't. For myself, I must somehow erect a bulwark against the ill fortune that is certain.
Gontran De Poncins
I may say that this is the greatest factor: the way in which the expedition is equipped, the way in which every difficulty is foreseen, and precautions taken for meeting or avoiding it. Victory awaits him who has everything in order, luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time, this is called bad luck.
Roald Amundsen
Every time you dive, you hope you'll see something new - some new species. Sometimes the ocean gives you a gift, sometimes it doesn't.
James Cameron
The last wendigo died in 1962, or so the story goes. Reputedly, he (it?) stood in front of the train to Churchill, Manitoba, believing that the train would stop for him, a supernatural being, and then he would be able to eat the passengers. The train ran him over. Sic transit gloria mundi.
Lawrence Millman
...For like a rugged tree you are hard and sound at the core.
H. Rider Haggard
What a tricky and uncomfortable thing is conscience, that nearly always begins to trouble us at the moment of, or after, the event, not before, when it might be of some use.
H. Rider Haggard
In this century wars will not be fought over oil, as in the past, but over water. The situation is becoming desperate. The world's water is strained by population growth. There is no more fresh water on earth than two thousand years ago when the population was three percent of its current size. Even without the inevitable droughts, like the current one, it will get worse as demand and pollution increase. Some countries will simply run out of water, sparking a global refugee crisis. Tens of millions of people will flood across international borders. It means the collapse of fisheries, environmental destruction, conflict, lower living standards." She paused for a moment. "As people who deal with the ocean you must see the irony. We are facing a shortage on a planet whose surface is covered two-thirds with water.
Clive Cussler
How true is the saying that the very highest in rank are always the most simple and kindly. It is from you half-and-half sort of people that you get pomposity and vulgarity
H. Rider Haggard
You have everything you need within you to become the best possible version of yourself. Believe that you CAN. Believe that you’re capable of pushing harder and farther than you have before. Believe that you’re young enough, old enough, smart enough and strong enough to achieve your goals. Don’t let false beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself. And certainly don’t get sidetracked by other people who are off track.
John Geiger
Today, you are as old as you have ever been and as young as you will ever be! It is never too late, or too early to start working toward your goals and your dreams. Every moment, every situation, and every turn of events presents you with an opportunity to build the self you are capable of being, and the life you are worthy of living. It’s just a matter of accepting, implementing ideas, taking action and actively expressing the purpose that is uniquely YOU.Every word you speak and every action you take should be intended to make tomorrow a little bit better. There is no such timer, clock or watch that measures quality time. You are given 24 hours a day and it is up to you as to how you will use it!
John Geiger
Life is filled with either problems or possibilities. When you look at a problem, but see opportunity instead, you become a powerful source that transforms grief into greatness. Don’t be someone who goes through greater lengths to avoid change than you do to obtain what you desire. You must define and embrace the necessary changes that move you forward. Go beyond your discontent for what is, and instead focus on imagining and creating the best of what’s possible.
John Geiger
Today you are encouraged to start tuning in to your inner voice. Nothing will bring you down quicker than berating yourself. The words you speak to yourself have a major impact on your mood and your perception. One of the major reasons we fail is due to self-doubt and negative self-talk. The way to overcome negative thoughts and destructive emotions is to develop opposing, positive emotions that are stronger and more powerful. Listen to your self-talk and replace negative thoughts with positive ones. And over time you will change the trajectory of your life.
John Geiger
You are not what you have done, but what you have overcome. All the hardships, the mistakes, the rejections, the pain and all the times you questioned why have given birth to the wisdom and strength that will help you shine your light on the world, even in the darkest of hour. Failures and struggles keep you humble. Success and achievement keep you glowing, but only faith and determination keep you going. Stay focused and celebrate your efforts too, not just the outcomes.
John Geiger
When you are content to simply be yourself, without comparing and competing to impress others, everyone worthwhile will respect you. And even more importantly, you will respect yourself. No one has the right to judge you. People may have heard your stories, and they may think they know you, but they can’t feel what you are going through; they aren’t living YOUR life. So forget what they think and say about you. Focus on how you feel about yourself, and keep walking the path that feels best under your feet.
John Geiger