Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Unspirational Quote: It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves

Recently, it seems some folks want followings by posting popular quotes but framing them to be inspirational toward MLM participants. Here's one example:


However, it seems these folks do NOT actually look into the origin of such a quote.



Quote Investigator has the best investigation... It was NOT first spoken by Sir Edmund Hillary. decades after he first climb Mt. Everest with Tenzing Norgay in 1953, he was asked in an interview in 1998 did he say it, and he answered that he may have said it, and he agreed with it. But he never claimed to have coined the expression.

Indeed, searches show that in 1892, a religious text called "The Manna of the Soul" by Father Paulo Segneri used mountain climbing as similar to faith in God.
He would have us ascend, not fly, that we may have greater merit in the violence that we do to ourselves when we conquer ourselves little by little, as in climbing up a high mountain: “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.”
So basically, the quote is actually about blind faith in one's ability to master the mountain.

Quote investigator believe the quote was actually from George Mallory, dated 1918 in a slightly different form where he used "vanquish" instead of conquer. It's worth noting that George Mallory died on Everest in 1924 and his body was not found until 1999. To date, there have been 292 deaths who died climbing Everest.

So I'll just leave you with this Unspirational Poster from SMOSH instead:


It is perfectly accurate as well, isn't it?

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