The Best Ernest Shackleton Quotes

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Mountain Journey
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What Are Your Favorite Ernest Shackleton Quotes?

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (February 15, 1874 – January 5, 1922) was a Polar explorer who led 3 British expeditions to Antarctica. Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII after his 2nd expedition to Antarctica when he set a new Farthest South latitude record at 88°S and climbed Antarctica’s most active volcano: Mount Erebus.

Antarctica | Pixabay Image
Antarctica | Pixabay Image

After Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the 1st person to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911, Shackleton focused his energy on crossing Antarctica. From 1914-1917, Shackleton led the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition with the goal of crossing from sea to sea via the South Pole.

During this expedition, Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, got trapped in ice and crushed. Shackleton and his crew survived on the sea ice before escaping on life boats to Elephant Island and onwards to South Georgia Island. This wild adventure is what lifted Shackleton to legendary explorer status.

Shackleton was an adventurer, explorer, and leader who pushed the limits of what was humanly possible. He dealt with a death-defy disaster at the ends of the earth and survived. Everyone can learn something from a man like that.

Below you’ll find a selection of the best Ernest Shackleton quotes:

  • Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all.
  • Superhuman effort isn’t worth a damn unless it achieves results.
  • By endurance we conquer.
  • I have often marveled at the thin line which separates success from failure.
  • Men Wanted for Dangerous Expedition: Low Wages for Long Hours of Arduous Labour under Brutal Conditions; Months of Continual Darkness and Extreme Cold; Great Risk to Life and Limb from Disease, Accidents and Other Hazards; Small Chance of Fame in Case of Success. (Shackleton’s ad to recruit crew)
  • I chose life over death for myself and my friends… I believe it is in our nature to explore, to reach out into the unknown. The only true failure would be not to explore at all.
  • When things are easy, I hate it.
  • Optimism is the true moral courage.
  • The difficulties of the journey lay behind us.
  • Life to me is the greatest of all games. The danger lies in treating it as a trivial game, a game to be taken lightly, and a game in which the rules don’t matter much. The rules matter a great deal. The game has to be played fairly or it is no game at all. And even to win the game is not the chief end. The chief end is to win it honorably and splendidly.
  • If you’re a leader, a fellow that other fellows look to, you’ve got to keep going.
  • I thought you’d rather have a live donkey than a dead lion.
  • If I had not some strength of will I would make a first class drunkard.

Which of these Ernest Shackleton quotes is your favorite? Did we miss any quotes that we should add to the list? Tell us in the comments below.

To read more about Ernest Shackleton, pick up one of many books on Amazon.com. Learn more about Ernest Shackleton on Wikipedia.org.

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