* When I was a college junior, my roommate and I climbed Mount Whitney. It took three days to get to the top and back, and we returned home completely exhausted. Visiting my parents soon after the grueling hike, I walked into our living room, where they were conversing with the neighbor. I told them every detail of my treck: how high the mountain was, how steep the trail and how we fought fatigue and altitude sickness all the way. “I know how difficult it is”, our neighbors said, “I took my Brownie troop there last year”.

* The reason I climb mountains is because they are there. That is the reason everyone else goes around them.

* The first person to make a mountain out of a molehill was probably a real estate agent.