Matthew Henson Quotations

We had no faith in (Cook) whatever. He was not even good for a day's work, and the idea of his making such an astounding claim as having reached the Pole was so ludicrous that, after our laugh, we dropped the matter altogether.

From the time we knew we were at the Pole, Commander Peary scarcely spoke to me... It nearly broke my heart... that he would rise in the morning and slip away on the homeward trail without rapping on the ice for me, as was the established custom.

I think I'm the first man to sit on top of the world.

It'll work, if God, wind, leads, ice, snow, and all the hells of this damned frozen land are willing.

There can be no conquest to the man who dwells in the narrow and small environment of a groveling life, and there can be no vision to the man the horizon of whose vision is limited by the bounds of self. But the great things of the world, the great accomplishments of the world, have been achieved by men who had high ideals and who have received great visions. The path is not easy, the climbing is rugged and hard, but the glory at the end is worthwhile.

I have reason to be grateful to Dr. Cook for favors received; I lived with his folks while I was suffering with my eyes, due to snow blindness, but I feel that all of the debts of gratitude have been liquidated by my silence in this controversy, and I will have nothing more to say in regard to him or to his claims.