Yvon Chouinard

Fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all.

Yvon Chouinard

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

Yvon Chouinard

The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life; it’s so easy to make it complex.

Yvon Chouinard

I purposely try to hire people who are really self-motivated and good at what they do, and then I just leave them alone.

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’.

Yvon Chouinard

I have a little different definition of evil than most people. When you have the opportunity and the ability to do good and you do nothing, that’s evil. Evil doesn’t always have to be an overt act, it can be merely the absence of good.

Yvon Chouinard

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

If you focus on the process of climbing, you’ll end up on the summit.

Yvon Chouinard

It’s not an adventure until something goes wrong.

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.

Yvon Chouinard