Vilhjalmur Stefansson Quotes & Sayings

Having an adventure shows that someone is incompetent, that something has gone wrong. An adventure is interesting enough - in retrospect. Especially to the person who didn't have it. — Vilhjalmur Stefansson

The philosophers of the Middle Ages demonstrated both that the Earth did not exist and also that it was flat. Today they are still arguing about whether the world exists, but they no longer dispute about whether it is flat. — Vilhjalmur Stefansson

What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public. — Vilhjalmur Stefansson

False modesty is better than none. — Vilhjalmur Stefansson

Adventure is a sign of incompetence. — Vilhjalmur Stefansson

A land may be said to be discovered the first time a European, presumably an Englishman, sets foot on it. — Vilhjalmur Stefansson

There are two kinds of Arctic problems, the imaginary and the real. Of the two, the imaginary are the most real. — Vilhjalmur Stefansson

The most striking contradiction of our civilization is the fundamental reverence for truth which we profess and the thorough-going disregard for it which we practice. — Vilhjalmur Stefansson