"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."
"Happiness [is] only real when shared"
"I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here... rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth."
"It's not always necessary to be strong, but to feel strong."
"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."
"I read somewhere... how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong... to measure yourself at least once."