Yvon Chouinard

“the worst thing said about him is that he was "uncurious.”

— Yvon Chouinard

True adventure begins when everything goes wrong.

— Yvon Chouinard

Remember: if you take bivouac equipment along, you will bivouac...

— Yvon Chouinard

How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top

— Yvon Chouinard

To do good, you actually have to do something.

— Yvon Chouinard

Traveling is my form of self-education.

— Yvon Chouinard

Fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all.

— Yvon Chouinard

The more I make the more I can give away.

— Yvon Chouinard

At Patagonia, making a profit is not the goal because the Zen master would say profits happen 'when you do everything else…

— Yvon Chouinard

You have to remember this was the '60s, when climbing was dangerous and sex was safe.

— Yvon Chouinard

We choose to believe that the granite is alive. If life is movement, then rock - with its atoms flying around like…

— Yvon Chouinard

You have a whole life in the outdoors, you realize you have a sense of responsibility to protect these wild places.

— Yvon Chouinard

You ask me about the past, you ask me about the future, the only way to be happy is to be living…

— Yvon Chouinard

We're a part of nature. As we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. It's a selfish thing to want to protect nature.

— Yvon Chouinard

The climbing as a whole is not very esthetic or enjoyable; it is merely difficult.

— Yvon Chouinard

Going back to a simpler life based on living by sufficiency rather than excess is not a step backward.

— Yvon Chouinard

“I have a little different definition of evil than most people. When you have the opportunity and the ability to do good…

— Yvon Chouinard

We're not citizens anymore. We're consumers. That's what we're called. It's just like being an alcoholic and being in denial that you're…

— Yvon Chouinard

The secret to happiness is to be working at your passion. If you want to be miserable, lead a desperate life like…

— 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…

— Yvon Chouinard

...it's the same with business. If you focus on the goal and not the process, you inevitably compromise. Businessmen who focus on…

— Yvon Chouinard

Hire extremely independent, intelligent, and passionate people, not necessarily "experts." Maybe three or four of my employees have MBAs, and those guys…

— Yvon Chouinard

Going back to a simpler life based on living by sufficiency rather than excess is not a step backward. Rather, returning to…

— Yvon Chouinard

If you want to understand the entrepreneur, study the juvenile delinquent. The delinquent is saying with his actions, ‘This sucks, I’m going…

— Yvon Chouinard

Climbing for speed records will probably become more popular, a mania which has just begun. Climbers climb not just to see how…

— Yvon Chouinard

...there's no such thing as sustainability. There are just levels of it. It's a process, not a real goal. All you can…

— Yvon Chouinard

“Technocrats tell us we can’t go backward, we can’t refuse technology, because then we won’t progress. We are told that life is…

— Yvon Chouinard

We've teamed up with some Japanese companies to, basically by 2010, make all our clothing out of recycled and recyclable fibers. And…

— Yvon Chouinard

When I die and go to hell, the devil is going to make me the marketing director for a cola company. I’ll…

— Yvon Chouinard

You can solo-climb Everest without using oxygen or you can pay guides and Sherpas to carry your loads, put ladders across crevasses,…

— Yvon Chouinard

I live for the moment. I'm basically a Buddhist-type person. I'm just here right now, and I don't think about what's going…

— Yvon Chouinard

While our managers debated what steps to take to address the sales and cash-flow crisis, I began to lead week-long employee seminars…

— Yvon Chouinard

“So in 2013, Patagonia launched a venture capital fund to invest in environmentally and socially responsible for-profit start-ups. We wanted to apply…

— Yvon Chouinard

I took a dozen of our top managers to Argentina, to the windswept mountains of the real Patagonia, for a walkabout. In…

— Yvon Chouinard

The more you know, the less you need.

— Yvon Chouinard

“We want customers who need our clothing, not just desire it.”

— Yvon Chouinard

Going back to a simpler life is not a step backwards.

— Yvon Chouinard

“Buy less; buy better. Make fewer styles; design better.”

— Yvon Chouinard

You climb to the summit and there is nothing there.

— Yvon Chouinard

Once you educate yourself, you're left with choices.

— Yvon Chouinard