“I always had a really natural faith as a kid. Where I knew God existed and it felt very free and pretty wild and natural, and it wasn’t religious.”

As for my diet, I try to eat lean, clean and healthy – nothing too surprising. And I avoid too much meat or dairy because they slow you down.

Weather can kill you so fast. The first priority of survival is getting protection from the extreme weather.

To get ready to climb Everest, I did a lot of hill running with a daypack on and a lot of underwater swimming. I would swim a couple of lengths underwater and then a couple above. It gets your body going with limited oxygen.

The extremes of jungles, mountains, and deserts are inherently dangerous places.

I come from a line of self-motivated, determined folk – not grand, not high society, but no-nonsense, family-minded go-getters.

It can be hard to explain. But I also relate to the quote that says, Iif you have to ask, you will never understand.

The line between life or death is determined by what we are willing to do.

Life has taught me to be very cautious of a man with a dream, especially a man who has teetered on the edge of life. It gives a fire and recklessness inside that is hard to quantify.

The greatest journeys all start with a single step.

My best life lessons and education didn’t come from a classroom – they’ve come from the wild. How you act in the big moments, the ones that challenge you, scare you, tempt you, and force you to make the right decisions, is what defines you.

Don’t be scared to dream big, and don’t be afraid to be close to people. And never give up! It’s the tenacious not the talented that win.

Once a job it has begun, do not stop until it’s done. Whether it is big or small, do it well or not all.

All worthwhile journeys have big obstacles. It’s the way of the world. The rewards go to those who can push through those trying moments and still manage to keep a smile on their face.

The special forces gave me the self-confidence to do some extraordinary things in my life. Climbing Everest then cemented my belief in myself.

I look back and understand the world a bit better and know how competitive it is .

The rules of survival never change, whether you’re in a desert or in an arena.

Calvin: Trick or treat! Adult: Where’s your costume? What are you supposed to be? Calvin: I’m yet another resource-consuming kid in an overpopulated planet.

I’d hate to have a kid like me.

You can’t be a real man if you don’t look out for your kids. They need you.

One of my first role models was Eugene Lang, a wealthy businessman who went back to his elementary school in East Harlem and addressed the sixth-grade class. He looked out at that sea of faces and said, “If any of you wants to go to college, I will pay for it.”

One barrier to being a great parent is the mistaken belief that we are raising kids.

Saturday night at my house, I often trot out classic movies and force the urchins to watch them. There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth, but I think it’s important to teach kids about American culture, and films are certainly a big part of it.

Speaking of human computers, there is a guy named Art Benjamin, he’s a human calculator. He says it’s a skill he learned as a kid. Now he’s a math professor at Harvey Mudd. He can find the square root of a six digit number in a few seconds. Practice.

You will be raising these kids in your mind your whole life. And they will change you. Your little contribution to it – twenty years from now, they’ll be marching off into other things and that’s still the legacy you leave.