Quotes from book
Into the Wild

Into the Wild

Into the Wild is a 1996 non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer. It is an expansion of a 9,000-word article by Krakauer on Christopher McCandless titled "Death of an Innocent", which appeared in the January 1993 issue of Outside. The book was adapted to a film of the same name in 2007, directed by Sean Penn with Emile Hirsch starring as McCandless. Into the Wild is an international bestseller which has been printed in 30 languages and 173 editions and formats. The book is widely used as high school and college reading curriculum. Into the Wild has been lauded by many reviewers but has also been described by Alaskan reporter, Craig Medred, as being "something invented" by its author.

“That's what was great about him. He tried. Not many do.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“If you don't take it, I'm going to throw it away," Alex cheerfully retorted. "I don't want to know what time it is. I don't want to know what day it is or where I am. None of that matters.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“But [Everett] and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

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

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“According to the moral absolutism that characterizes McCandless's beliefs, a challenge in which a successful outcome is assured isn't a challenge at all.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“Children can be harsh judges when it comes to their parents, disinclined to grant clemency.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“I understood what he was doing, that he had spent four years fulfilling the absurd and tedious duty of graduating from college and now he was emancipated from that world of abstraction, false security, parents, and material excess.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“We like companionship, see, but we can't stand to be around people for very long. So we go get ourselves lost, come back for a while, then get the hell out again.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“Mr. Franz, I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don't want one.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“I don’t want to know what time it is. I don’t want to know what day it is or where I am. None of that matters.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking. Sometimes he tried too hard to make sense of the world, to figure out why people were bad to each other so often.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“He needed his solitude at times, but he wasn't a hermit. He did a lot of socializing. Sometimes I think it was like he was storing up company for the times when he knew nobody would be around.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“He was unheeded, happy, and near to the wild heart of life. He was alone and young and wilful and wildhearted, alone amid a waste of wild air and brackish waters and the seaharvest of shells and tangle and veiled grey sunlight.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“I read somewhere… how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong… to measure yourself at least once.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“Happiness [is] only real when shared”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“Now what is history? It is the centuries of systematic explorations of the riddle of death, with a view to overcoming death. That’s why people discover mathematical infinity and electromagnetic waves, that’s why they write symphonies..”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“The trip was to be an odyssey in the fullest sense of the word, an epic journey that would change everything.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

“The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

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