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
No young kid growing up dreams of someday becoming a businessman. He wants to be a fireman, a sponsored athlete or a forest ranger The Lee Iacoccas, Donald Trumps, and Jack Welchs of the business world are heroes to no one except other businessmen with similar values.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Children aspire to heroic and adventurous careers, not typically business roles.
In this quote, Yvon Chouinard highlights the disparity between childhood dreams and the adult world of business. He suggests that while children dream of exhilarating and heroic professions like firemen or athletes, the business figures admired in society often lack that same heroic appeal to the younger generation, indicating a disconnect between entrepreneurial success and childhood aspirations.
Themes
BusinessDreamsChildhoodAspirationsHeroes
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech to inspire students to follow their true passions rather than just lucrative careers.
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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