Christopher McCandless Quotes

If you want something in life, reach out and grab it.

If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, the possibility of life is destroyed.[quoting Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace]

I think careers are a 20th century invention, and I don’t want one.[to Mr. Franz]

Happiness only real when shared.[written in the book]

You know what I don’t understand? I don’t understand why people, why every f***ing person is so bad to each other so f***ing often. It doesn’t make sense to me. Judgment. Control. All that, the whole spectrum.[to Wayne]

What if I were smiling and running into your arms? Would you see then what I see now?[last lines]

The sea’s only gifts are harsh blows, and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong. Now, I don’t know much about the sea, but I do know that that’s the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong, to measure yourself at least once, to find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions, facing the blind, deaf stone alone with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head.[quoting Primo Levi]

The freedom and simple beauty is just too good to pass up…[in a letter]

The core of man’s spirit comes from new experiences.

Some people feel like they don’t deserve love. They walk away quietly into empty spaces, trying to close the gaps of the past.

It should not be denied that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations. Absolute freedom. And the road has always led west.[quoting Wallace Stegner]

I’m gonna miss you when you go.[Ron Franz]I’ll miss you, too, Ron. But you’re wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from human relationships. God’s placed it all around us. It’s in everything. It’s in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at those things.[Christopher McCandless]