Greg Mortenson Quotes

A collection of quotes by Greg Mortenson.

Greg Mortenson is an American humanitarian and former mountaineer known for his efforts in promoting education in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Born on December 27, 1957, Mortenson grew up in Tanzania, where his parents, Lutheran missionaries, had moved to work as teachers. He returned to the United States as a teenager, where he completed his education.

Mortenson first gained recognition for his climbing expeditions in the Karakoram Range, including an unsuccessful attempt to summit K2, the second-highest peak in the world. During these journeys, he stumbled upon a remote village in Pakistan, where he experienced the poverty and lack of educational opportunities faced by the children in the region.

Driven by a desire to make a difference, Mortenson founded the Central Asia Institute (CAI) in 1996, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building schools and improving education in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. He raised funds and tirelessly worked to establish schools, especially for girls, in these remote areas.

Mortenson’s efforts gained international attention with the publication of his best-selling book, "Three Cups of Tea," in collaboration with writer David Oliver Relin. The book, published in 2006, detailed his experiences and the challenges he faced in building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, Mortenson faced controversy and accusations of mismanagement of funds and fabrications within the book, leading to a significant setback in his reputation and the eventual closure of CAI.

Despite the controversy, Greg Mortenson’s initial work in promoting education in some of the most marginalized parts of the world remains an important milestone in the field of humanitarian activism.