QuotesCosmos
p. 312
“

I used to climb mountains in snow and ice, hanging onto the sides of great rocks. I was describing one of my adventures to an older friend once, and when I had finished he asked me, "Why do you want to kill yourself?" I protested. I told him that the rewards I wanted were of sight, of pleasure, of the thrill of pitting my body and my skills against nature. My friend replied, "When you are as old as I am you will see that you are trying to kill yourself."

— Heinz Pagels

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "I used to climb mountains in snow and ice, hanging onto the sides of great rocks. I was describing one of my adventures to an older friend once, and when I had finished he asked me, "Why do you want to kill yourself?" I protested. I told him that the rewards I wanted were of sight, of pleasure, of the thrill of pitting my body and my skills against nature. My friend replied, "When you are as old as I am you will see that you are trying to kill yourself."" in the context of "p. 312" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Heinz Pagels" (Quotes, The Cosmic Code (1982):  Pagels, Heinz R. (1982). The Cosmic Code: Quantum Physics As the Language of Nature. New York: Simon and Schuster. ) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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#Heinz Pagels#yourself#friend#kill#describing#adventures#mountains#protested#finished#pleasure#hanging#rewards
Heinz Pagels

About Heinz Pagels

Heinz Rudolf Pagels (February 19, 1939 – July 23, 1988) was an American physicist, an adjunct professor of physics at Rockefeller University, the executive director and chief executive officer of the New York Academy of Sciences, and president of the International League for Human Rights.