I wanted to reveal how genetic code is translated into protein. I knew a great application could be for antibiotics, since half of the useful ones target the ribosomes, but I didn't believe I could contribute to it. It was like the next Mount Everest to conquer. It was my dream to contribute something to humanity.

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.

No one remembers who climbed Mount Everest the second time.

If it is a shame to be the second man on Mount Everest, then I will have to live with this shame.

Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career.