Ever since the morning of May 29, 1953, when Tenzing Norgay and I became the first climbers to step onto the summit of Mount Everest, I've been called a great adventurer.

No one remembers who climbed Mount Everest the second time.

On the summit of Everest, I had a feeling of great satisfaction to be first there.

I climbed Mount Everest. I don't quit.

So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.

They've only taken the first step on the climb up Mount Everest. It's a long, steep climb, but give them credit for wanting to do it right. Just because they're champions in football doesn't necessarily mean it will be an easy road in NASCAR Nextel Cup racing. I think they are aware of that.