But there are men for whom the unattainable has a special attraction. Usually they are not experts: their ambitions and fantasies are strong enough to brush aside the doubts which more cautious men mi...
Adventure should be 80 percent 'I think this is manageable,' but it's good to have that last 20 percent where you're right outside your comfort zone. Still safe, but outside your comfort zone.
Slova Edwarda Whympera jsou pravdivá dodnes: „Lez, jestli tě to baví, ale pamatuj si, že odvaha a síla neznamenají bez opatrnosti nic… S ničím nepospíchej, dávej pozor na každý krok a od začátku mysli...
On the third day, I asked if she would like to climb Ben Loyal with me--with anyone else who fancied coming along. None of the guys wanted to join me and I ended up with a group of four girls, includi...
Light can only shine through broken vessels.
Their main criticism of the kind of books and talks that motivate and inspire people is that the impact is often fleeting - that the effects of the book or talk don’t last.My response is to say: of co...
I remember in the North African desert once, when we were training with the French Foreign Legionnaires, that we had a particularly unpleasant night. The corporals took shifts to ensure that we were w...
They are never sufficiently tested. This means I’ve got two good pieces of news for you. The first is that whenever you do something beyond your ‘comfort zone’ and realize you are still standing, the...
The next day’s call would be vital.Then at 12:02 P.M., the radio came to life.Bear at camp two, it’s Neil. All okay?I heard the voice loud and clear.Hungry for news, I replied, smiling. He knew exactl...
The Royal Marines description of me as happy-go-lucky is good for many things, but somehow it doesn’t wash with university applications.And with my mediocre A level results I was getting a hefty numbe...
Take a look at one of the greatest inventors to have ever lived, Sir Isaac Newton. In a letter to his great rival Robert Hooke, he wrote that his work on the theory of gravity had only been possible b...
So that is how we came to be standing in a sparse room, in a nondescript building in the barracks at SAS HQ--just a handful out of all those who had started out so many months earlier.We shuffled arou...
So I got lucky. But then again, it took me many hundreds of rejections to manage to find that luck.I am sure there is a lesson n that somewhere.Someone had taken a punt and had faith in me. I wouldn’t...
Shara met me at the airport in London, dressed in her old familiar blue woolen overcoat that I loved so much. She was bouncing like a little girl with excitement.Everest was nothing compared to seeing...
People always value others who really listen to them. Quiet, considered and genuine listening is such a gift to give someone, and you will become recognized and loved for this skill.It is always empow...
Over the next few days we spent every waking moment together. We made up silly dances, did puzzles in the evening, and she stood smiling on the beach waiting for me as I took my customary New Year’s d...
One thing I am clear on, though, is why the show has been so successful.I consider it is down to the magic three: good fortune, an amazing team, and a willingness to risk it all.My magic trio.There i...
Just before my accident, I had met a great girl who was a student at Cambridge.With my newly found wheels, I used to ride like a lunatic up the motorway to see her after our final evening parade at th...
If the person you’re speaking to will think worse or less of the person you’re speaking about, then it’s gossip, so cut it out!
I will never forget the day I finally passed SAS selection. At the end of the long, grueling process of elimination, where 140 recruits had steadily been whittled down to only four of us, I finally fo...