1. In appreciation for whatever it is that makes men accomplish the impossible.
2. Their plight was naked and terrifying in its simplicity: If they were to get out—they had to get themselves out.
3. The motto of his family: By endurance we conquer.
4. From studying the outcome of past expeditions, he believed that those that burdened themselves with equipment to meet every contingency had fared much worse than those that had sacrificed total preparedness for speed.
5. Shackleton was not an ordinary individual. He was a man who believed completely in his own invincibility, and to whom defeat was a reflection of personal inadequacy. This indomitable self-confidence took the form of optimism.
6. Of all their enemies—the cold, the ice, the sea—he feared none more than demoralization.
7. Life has been reduced from a highly complex existence, with a thousand petty problems, to one of the barest simplicity in which only one real task remained—the achievement of the goal.
8. For scientific leadership give me Scott; for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen; but when you are in a hopeless situation, when there seems no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.
9. They were possessed by an angry determination to see the journey through—no matter what.
10. He needed something so enormous, so demanding, that it provided a touchstone for his monstrous ego and implacable drive.
11. He had one pervading characteristic: he was purposeful.
12. Though he was virtually fearless in the physical sense, he suffered an almost pathological dread of losing control of the situation. In part, this attitude grew out of a consuming sense of responsibility. He felt he had gotten them into their situation, and it was his responsibility to get them out. As a consequence, he was intensely watchful for potential troublemakers who might nibble away at the unity of the group.
13. Shackleton's unwillingness to succumb to the demands of everyday life and his insatiable excitement with unrealistic ventures left him open to the accusation of being basically immature and irresponsible. But the great leaders of historical record the Napoleons, the Nelsons, the Alexanders —have rarely fitted any conventional mold, and it is perhaps an injustice to evaluate them in ordinary terms. There can be little doubt that Shackleton, in his way, was an extraordinary leader of men.
14. There was even a trace of mild exhilaration in their attitude. At least, they had a clear-cut task ahead of them. The nine months of indecision, of speculation about what might happen, of aimless drifting with the pack were over.
15. They had had no sleep for almost eighty hours, and their bodies had been drained by exposure and effort of almost the last vestige of vitality. But the conviction that they had to land by nightfall gave rise to a strength borne of desperation. It was pull or perish, and ignoring their sickening thirst, they leaned on their oars with what seemed the last of their strength.
16. The only thing to do was to hang on, and endure.
17. No matter what the odds, a man does not pin his last hope for survival on something and then expect that it will fail.
18. For thirteen days they had suffered through almost ceaseless gales, then finally a huge rogue sea. They had been the underdog, fit only to endure the punishment inflicted on them. But sufficiently provoked, there is hardly a creature on God's earth that ultimately won't turn and attempt to fight, regardless of the odds.
19. They were possessed by an angry determination to see the journey through —no matter what.
20. I do not know how they did it, except that they had to.
Learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs by listening to Founders.
11. He had one pervading characteristic: he was purposeful.
12. Though he was virtually fearless in the physical sense, he suffered an almost pathological dread of losing control of the situation. In part, this attitude grew out of a consuming sense of responsibility. He felt he had gotten them into their situation, and it was his responsibility to get them out. As a consequence, he was intensely watchful for potential troublemakers who might nibble away at the unity of the group.
13. Shackleton's unwillingness to succumb to the demands of everyday life and his insatiable excitement with unrealistic ventures left him open to the accusation of being basically immature and irresponsible. But the great leaders of historical record the Napoleons, the Nelsons, the Alexanders —have rarely fitted any conventional mold, and it is perhaps an injustice to evaluate them in ordinary terms. There can be little doubt that Shackleton, in his way, was an extraordinary leader of men.
14. There was even a trace of mild exhilaration in their attitude. At least, they had a clear-cut task ahead of them. The nine months of indecision, of speculation about what might happen, of aimless drifting with the pack were over.
15. They had had no sleep for almost eighty hours, and their bodies had been drained by exposure and effort of almost the last vestige of vitality. But the conviction that they had to land by nightfall gave rise to a strength borne of desperation. It was pull or perish, and ignoring their sickening thirst, they leaned on their oars with what seemed the last of their strength.
16. The only thing to do was to hang on, and endure.
17. No matter what the odds, a man does not pin his last hope for survival on something and then expect that it will fail.
18. For thirteen days they had suffered through almost ceaseless gales, then finally a huge rogue sea. They had been the underdog, fit only to endure the punishment inflicted on them. But sufficiently provoked, there is hardly a creature on God's earth that ultimately won't turn and attempt to fight, regardless of the odds.
19. They were possessed by an angry determination to see the journey through —no matter what.
20. I do not know how they did it, except that they had to.
Learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs by listening to Founders.