Christopher McCandless Quotes in Into the Wild (2007)

Christopher McCandless: [written into book] Happiness only real when shared.

Christopher McCandless: Mr. Franz, I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don't want one.

Christopher McCandless: When you want something in life, you just gotta reach out and grab it.

Christopher McCandless: I read somewhere how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong... but to feel strong.

Christopher McCandless: If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed.

Christopher McCandless: 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.

Christopher McCandless: Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shalt not return, 'cause "the West is the best." And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild. - Alexander Supertramp May 1992

Christopher McCandless: I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here... rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth.

Christopher McCandless: The core of man's spirit comes from new experiences.

[last lines]

Christopher McCandless: What if I were smiling and running into your arms? Would you see then what I see now?

Christopher McCandless: The freedom and simple beauty is too good to pass up...

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

Wayne Westerberg: Outdoorsman. What's your fascination with all that stuff?

Christopher McCandless: I'm going to Alaska.

Wayne Westerberg: Alaska, Alaska? Or city Alaska? Because they do have markets in Alaska. The city of Alaska. Not in Alaska. In the city of Alaska, they have markets.

Christopher McCandless: No, man. Alaska, Alaska. I'm gonna be all the way out there, all the way fucking out there. Just on my own. You know, no fucking watch, no map, no axe, no nothing. No nothing. Just be out there. Just be out there in it. You know, big mountains, rivers, sky, game. Just be out there in it, you know? In the wild.

Wayne Westerberg: In the wild.

Christopher McCandless: Just wild!

Wayne Westerberg: Yeah. What are you doing when we're there? Now you're in the wild, what are we doing?

Christopher McCandless: You're just living, man. You're just there, in that moment, in that special place and time. Maybe when I get back, I can write a book about my travels.

Wayne Westerberg: Yeah. Why not?

Christopher McCandless: You know, about getting out of this sick society. Society!

Wayne Westerberg: [coughs] Society! Society!

Christopher McCandless: Society, man! You know, society! Cause, you know what I don't understand? I don't understand why people, why every fucking person is so bad to each other so fucking often. It doesn't make sense to me. Judgment. Control. All that, the whole spectrum. Well, it just...

Wayne Westerberg: What "people" we talking about?

Christopher McCandless: You know, parents, hypocrites, politicians, pricks.

Wayne Westerberg: [taps Chris' head] This is a mistake. It's a mistake to get too deep into all that kind of stuff. Alex, you're a hell of a young guy, a hell of a young guy. But I promise you this. You're a young guy! Can't be juggling blood and fire all the time!

[laughs]

Christopher McCandless: You don't need human relationships to be happy, God has placed it all around us.

Ron Franz: I'm going to miss you when you go.

Christopher McCandless: I will miss you too, but you are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's place is all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things.

Ron Franz: Yeah. I am going to take stock of that. You know I am. I want to tell you something. From bits and pieces of what you have told me about your family, your mother and your dad... And I know you have problems with the church too... But there is some kind of bigger thing that we can all appreciate and it sounds to me you don't mind calling it God. But when you forgive, you love. And when you love, God's light shines through you.

Christopher McCandless: Holy shit!

Christopher McCandless: 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.

Christopher McCandless: You are really good. I mean, you're like, a hundred thousand times better than like any apple I've ever had. I'm not Superman, I'm Supertramp and you're super apple. You're so tasty, you're so organic, so natural. You are the apple of my eye, ha!

Christopher McCandless: What if I were smiling and running into your arms? Would you see then what I see now?

Christopher McCandless: If I wanted to paddle down the river, where's the best place to launch out of?

Ranger Steve Koehler: To *launch* out of?

Ron Franz: What does the "N" stand for?

Christopher McCandless: North.

Ron Franz: [sounding surprised and frustrated] Alaska?

Ranger Steve Koehler: Next available is May 17, 2003.

Christopher McCandless: 12 years? Twelve years - to paddle down a river?

[first lines]

Christopher McCandless: Mom! Mom! Help me.

Christopher McCandless: [mimicking his parents fight] No, Billie. I told you once. Don't make me tell you again. Okay? Okay? You hear me? You hear me, woman? You hear me, woman? Huh? You hear me, woman? Sorry. Sorry, Walt. I'm sorry.