Bailey Meeker

“Illness is the night side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.”
― Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor

“Dad used to say, “Death is a part of it all.” I say it’s the ugly part. But it’s why I’m here, why Eiger climbers come. We come because they died, and by dying they created this legend, and we want to be a part of the legend, without dying.”
― John Harlin, The Eiger Obsession: Facing the Mountain that Killed My Father

“My body isn’t designed for walking. It’s entirely the wrong shape. The legs are far too short and the whole trunk is shaped exactly to fit into seats and be carried comfortably to its destination, preferably by something fast and exciting, such as a sports car or a helicopter.”
― Joe Simpson, This Game of Ghosts

“A new fear began to grip me, almost as powerful as the fear of what could befall us on the mountain: the fear of running out of reading material.”
― Matt Dickinson, The Other Side of Everest: Climbing the North Face Through the Killer Storm