Yvon Chouinard Quotes

The spirit around leaving New York, for me, was that I just felt I needed to do something really outside of my comfort zone. And I really couldn't tell you at the time why I needed to do it. It wasn't like I was running from something dark; it was a desire to shake things up.

What draws me in is that a trip is a leap in the dark. It's like a metaphor for life. You set off from home, and in the classic travel book, you go to an unknown place. You discover a different world, and you discover yourself.

I believe if you are not rediscovering yourself and pushing boundaries, then you are not alive.

I like feeling out of my depth.

Withough danger you cannot go beyond danger.

Risk, then, is not just part of life. It is life. The place between your comfort zone and your dream is where life takes place. It's the high-anxiety zone, but it's also where you discover who you are.

The test of an adventure is that when you're in the middle of it, you say to yourself "Oh now I've got myself into an awful mess; I wish I were sitting quietly at home. And the sign that something's wrong with you is when you sit quietly at home wishing you were out having lots of adventure.

A man of my acquaintance once wrote a poem called "The Road Less Traveled", describing a journey he took through the woods along a path most travelers never used. The poet found that the road less traveled was peaceful but quite lonely, and he was probably a bit nervous as he went along, because if anything happened on the road less traveled, the other travelers would be on the road more frequently traveled and so couldn't hear him as he cried for help. Sure enough, that poet is dead.

For some reason, I like to put myself in situations where I don't even know how I ended up there. I never want to be complacent or comfortable in a role.

I'm really a believer in being in situations that feel new and awkward and different. And I love that feeling of being in motion - that sense you find when you're traveling.

So in my uncertainty, I went to graduate school and there it all happened.

A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.

No, you never get any fun out of the things you haven't done.

Six months later I was in Paris. I was 16, and it all started to happen.

Sometimes doors open and other close and you have to figure out which one you're going to take. I'm always for the one that's challenging. That's where I think you live your life to the fullest.

My Antarctic expedition is just about doable, just feasible and that's what is exciting to me. If I knew it was possible, if I knew I could do it without too much bother, I wouldn't be interested.

I'm in the camp that needs to discover and take risks, sometimes it's with the promise of something special and new, sometimes it's to stay awake, either way it's much more stressful with all the uncertainty but worth the pain in the end.

For your soul's sake, invoke the agent of change called risk, which ensures that things will not be the same tomorrow as they are today. All real change requires risk.

I've learnt that your life is more interesting and fulfilling when you don't lead it in a straight line and you go off on zigzags. I've made it a rule that if life becomes too comfortable and easy, I'll disrupt it.

But even if I'm left high and dry at the end of this wild journey, just taking it is a great feeling.

Quest stories are about the oldest form of narrative there is, and they're also the perfect metaphor for life because we're all on a journey trying to figure out where we're going and who we are. 'Solomon Creed' is just doing it with more danger and guns involved.

I personally think that you have to get lost to find something really worthwhile, at least sometimes.

Without risk you can't experience life. There have to be risks, physically and mentally, taken by everyone.

I do not want the things I do to be easy and predictable. I want them to be real.

Safe is good for sidewalks and swimming pools, but life requires risk if we are to get anywhere.