The one thing that matters is the effort. It continues, whereas the end to be attained is but an illusion of the climber, as he fares on and on from crest to crest; and once the goal is reached it has no meaning.

The remark contrasts process with outcome: what endures and shapes a person is sustained striving, not the supposedly definitive “goal.” The climber image suggests that objectives recede as one advances—each summit reveals another—so the “end” is partly a projection that motivates movement rather than a final, meaningful terminus. Read this way, the quote argues for valuing discipline, perseverance, and the inner transformation produced by effort. It also carries a quiet critique of triumphalism: reaching a target can feel strangely empty if one has treated the goal as the sole source of meaning, because meaning was actually generated along the way.