“Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”
“It s strange how the simple things in life go on while we become difficult.”
“Embrace each challenge in your life as an opportunity for self-transformation.”
“The odds don’t intimidate me. It makes me work harder to be greater... to be my best.”
“I ve got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen.”
“If you aren t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?”
“What if evil doesn t really exist? What if evil is something dreamed up by man, and there is nothing to struggle against except out own limitations? The constant battle between our will, our desires, and our choices?”
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”
“The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.”
“Contrary to what we usually believe, moments like these, the best moments in our lives, are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times—although such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen. For a child, it could be placing with trembling fingers the last blockon a tower she has built, higher than any she has built so far; for a swimmer, it could be trying to beat his own record; for a violinist, mastering an intricate musical passage. For each person there are thousands of opportunities, challenges to expand ourselves.”
“No one is without troubles, without personal hardships and genuine challenges. That fact may not be obvious because most people don t advertise their woes and heartaches. But nobody, not even the purest heart, escapes life without suffering battle scars.”
“Sometimes the darkest challenges, the most difficult lessons, hold the greates gems of light.”
“There are no negatives in life, only challenges to overcome that will make you stronger.”
“According to the moral absolutism that characterizes McCandless s beliefs, a challenge in which a successful outcome is assured isn t a challenge at all.”
“Brick walls are not there to keep us out, they are there to show us how much we want something.”
“To remain indifferent to the challenges we face is indefensible. If the goal is noble, whether or not it is realized within our lifetime is largely irrelevant. What we must do therefore is to strive and persevere and never give up.”
“If we are not allowed to deal with small problems, we will be destroyed by slightly larger ones. When we come to understand this, we live our lives not avoiding problems, but welcoming them them as challenges that will strengthen us so that we can be victorious in the future.”