Yvon Chouinard quotes - page 2

I think risk is important. I don't care if it's a great financial risk or a physical risk. You only get out of something what you put into it and the fact that you are willing to risk something means that you are going to get a lot more out of it. (Yvon Chouinard)
True adventure begins when everything goes wrong. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
Evil doesn't have to be an overt act; it can be merely the absence of good. If you have the ability, the resources, and the opportunity to do good and you do nothing, that can be evil. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
Everything we make pollutes. The most responsible thing we can do is to make each product as well as we know how so it lasts as long as possible. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
The revolution starts at the bottom. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
Going back to a simpler life is not a step backwards. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
Mainly, my job is to be on the outside and bring ideas into the company and forge change. Most people hate change-it's threatening. I thrive on it. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
We took special pride in the fact that climbing rocks and icefalls had no economic value in society...We were like a wild species living in the edges of an ecosystem - adaptable, resilient and tough. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
I drive old cars, all my Patagonia clothes are years and years old, I hardly have anything new. I try to lead a very simple life. I am not a consumer of anything. And I much prefer sleeping on somebody's floor than in a motel room. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
Nature doesn't like empires. It doesn't like accumulation in one place, it doesn't like monoculture. It's always trying to make diverse species. It wants to spread everything out. And we're constantly trying to hold everything in. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
You have to remember this was the '60s, when climbing was dangerous and sex was safe. (Yvon Chouinard)
You have a whole life in the outdoors, you realize you have a sense of responsibility to protect these wild places. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
The rules of the game must be constantly updated to keep up with the expanding technology. Otherwise we overkill the classic climbs and delude ourselves into thinking we are better climbers than the pioneers. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
Most of the damage we cause to the planet is the result of our own ignorance. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
I've always thought of myself as an 80 percenter. I like to throw myself passionately into a sport or activity until I reach about an 80 percent proficiency level. To go beyond that requires an obsession that doesn't appeal to me. Once I reach 80 percent level I like to go off and do something totally different; that probably explains the diversity of the Patagonia product like - and why our versatile, multifaceted clothes are the most successful. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
I've accepted the fact that there's a beginning and end to everything. All species are born, evolve, and then die off. We're going through the 6th great extinction and the large mammals are going first and, you know what - we're large mammals! View quote
Yvon Chouinard
But I'm really trying to run this company like it is going to be here a hundred years from now. That's what's important. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
The whole purpose of climbing something like Everest is to effect some sort of spiritual and physical gain. But if you compromise the process you're an asshole when you start out and an asshole when you get back. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
The goal of climbing big, dangerous mountains should be to attain some sort of spiritual and personal growth, but this won't happen if you compromise away the entire process. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
Traveling is my form of self-education. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
Is climbing, as a passion and as a sport, better off now than it was in the past? We can do harder climbs now in faster times - techniques are more refined and equipement more sophisticated - but are we really any better off? (Yvon Chouinard)
I say the last 10 percent of the way to perfection takes so much of your life that it isn't worth the effort. This overzealous attitude is what creates religious fanatics, body Nazis, and athletes who are exceedingly dull to converse with. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
At Patagonia, making a profit is not the goal because the Zen master would say profits happen 'when you do everything else right'. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
I'm the company philosopher and the burr in the saddle. I'm the one who says we need to try harder, improve the quality of our products, become a part of the political process, help elect people who are good for the environment. View quote
Yvon Chouinard
We choose to believe that the granite is alive. If life is movement, then rock - with its atoms flying around like stars in cosmos - is alive. View quote
Yvon Chouinard