"When you aim high, expect high," Tsang Yin Hung, a former teacher from Hong Kong, told reporters in Nepal.
It is a phrase she often repeated to her friends before recording the world's fastest ascent of Mount Everest by a woman last Sunday.
Ms. Tsang, 45, reached the top of the world's highest mountain from base camp in 25 hours and 50 minutes.
That was fast enough to beat the previous record, set by a Nepalese climber in 2017, by more than 12 hours.
"I just feel a kind of relieved and happy because I am not looking for breaking record. I just [wanted to] challenge myself," Ms. Tsang told media in Nepal's capital Kathmandu on Sunday, after safely returning from Everest.
Ms. Tsang made a previous attempt on 11 May, but bad weather forced her to turn back. Determined to make it to the top, she returned a week later.
She left base camp at 13:20 local time (07:35 GMT) on 22 May and reached the top at 15:10 the next day, a Nepalese government official told AFP news agency.
Ms. Tsang attributed the record to her ability, teamwork, and luck. But for her, the record was an afterthought.
"I always tell my working team, my friends, when you aim high, expect high," Ms. Tsang was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency. "So I feel relieved because I can prove my work to my friends, to my students."