There's no difference between a pessimist who says, "Oh it's hopeless, so don't bother doing anything." and an optimist who says, "Don't bother doing anything, it's going to turn out fine anyways. Either way, nothing happens."
Yvon ChouinardRead
Climbing for speed records will probably become more popular, a mania which has just begun. Climbers climb not just to see how fast and efficiently they can do it, but far worse, to see how much faster and more efficiently they are than a party which did the same climb a few days before. The climb becomes secondary, no more important than a racetrack. Man is pitted against man.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the competitive nature of climbing, emphasizing that the joy of the activity is being overshadowed by the desire to outdo others.
Yvon Chouinard reflects on the evolving culture of climbing, where the pursuit of speed records has shifted the focus from the intrinsic beauty and challenge of the climb to a competitive race against others. This trend reveals a troubling obsession with measurement and comparison, where the ascent becomes a mere race rather than a personal journey of challenge and achievement.
Themes
ClimbingCompetitionPhilosophyChallengeNature
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about personal growth, you can quote this to emphasize the importance of focusing on personal achievement over competition.
More from Yvon Chouinard
All quotes →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.
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The solution may be for a lot of the world's problems is to turn around and take a forward step. You can't just keep trying to make a flawed system work.
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We're a part of nature. As we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. It's a selfish thing to want to protect nature.
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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.
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The future of Yosemite climbing lies not in Yosemite, but in using the new techniques in the great granite ranges of the world.
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