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Jimmy Chin Quotes

Powerful Jimmy Chin for Daily Growth

It's hard to take people seriously who say you're totally irresponsible if you go out and climb mountains when you have kids, because they clearly don't understand the circumstances. You can't impose your own acceptance of risk on other people - that's not fair.

- Jimmy Chin

Mountains, Own, Other, Impose

The two great risks are risking too much but also risking too little. That's for each person to decide. For me, not risking anything is worse than death. By far.

- Jimmy Chin

Death, Decide, Also, Risking

Great images take you on a journey via a single photograph. The depth and layers pull your eye all over the frame, causing you to pick up interesting pieces along the way, ultimately coming to a climax.

- Jimmy Chin

Pieces, Your, Via, Depth

So many diseases and illnesses have fundamental roots in the lack of clean water. Resolving the clean water crisis would mitigate a lot of problems.

- Jimmy Chin

Crisis, Clean Water, Resolving

I listen to everything while I train. From old school reggae, to classical stuff like Bach, to hip-hop, to rock and roll.

- Jimmy Chin

Rock And Roll, Old, Like, Old School

The mainstream audience has a certain picture of what climbing is all about: man conquering mountain. But you can't conquer a mountain, though it may conquer you.

- Jimmy Chin

Audience, May, Though, Mainstream

I've always been interested in working with top athletes, athletes who are pushing the edge and are really progressive in the outdoor space and adventure world.

- Jimmy Chin

Always, Athletes, Been, Progressive

I lose anywhere up to 20 pounds on location with adventurers like Conrad Anker or Brady Robinson. So I need to replace that lost weight and muscle by training hard when I am back in the States between jobs. And as I get older, it is far more important for me to be doing this and taking my conditioning seriously.

- Jimmy Chin

Doing, Back, Replace, I Am Back

I truly believe the intention of creating positive change is so important to the collective consciousness. When you have a group of people that have the intention and the capacity, talent, and intelligence to actualize those intentions, then you have something really powerful.

- Jimmy Chin

Talent, Believe, Capacity, Intention

I won't ski in the backcountry the day after a big storm anymore. The mountains are so humbling. As soon as you think you're on top or crushing it, that's when you need to be really careful.

- Jimmy Chin

Think, Big, Crushing, Humbling

People say, 'Are you insane?' But the most successful climbers are the most calculating, with the most refined sense of risk. They're hyper-conscious of safety. They're the least insane people I know.

- Jimmy Chin

Say, Sense, Least, Calculating

I think being a good dad is on the list of things to do. But, I will always ski, climb, surf, and be out in the mountains and oceans. It's who I am. My goal is to just keep doing it all and enjoying it.

- Jimmy Chin

Mountains, Doing, I Think, Oceans

Taoism taught me to focus on the process and not to be attached to preconceived ideas of what I thought the outcome should be.

- Jimmy Chin

Thought, Process, Taught, Preconceived

When you're climbing something as challenging as Meru, it's all about efficiency. Even a decision as small as what to eat for dinner would expend energy you need for making other, more dramatic decisions.

- Jimmy Chin

Efficiency, Small, Making, Expend

I am always concerned with finding the right spot and the right shot, so sometimes I forget to appreciate the skill of my fellow adventurers, but I am aware of how my life has been changed by my ability with a camera.

- Jimmy Chin

My Life, Been, Concerned, Adventurers

You can show up at Everest having never really climbed before, because it's like hiking, basically. You can't show up on Meru and start up the thing unless you have years and years of experience. Climbing and spending time on the mountains is really the only way you can train.

- Jimmy Chin

Mountains, Years And Years, Climbed

When I show up in New York, and I look at the skyline, it's like showing up in a mountain range. My gaze goes toward the most impressive-looking climb. It's always gone to the top of the World Trade Center.

- Jimmy Chin

Show, World Trade Center, Showing Up

I like to think that images of people doing amazing things may open people's eyes to the human potential, to the idea that people can do the extraordinary when they set their minds to it.

- Jimmy Chin

Doing, Think, Images, Amazing Things

You do wonder - when you are at 28,000 feet, the height that aeroplanes cruise at, when you are struggling to draw breath and every limb aches - why do I do this?

- Jimmy Chin

Feet, Why, Limb, Aeroplanes

If you want to train for big mountain endeavors, spend time in big mountains.

- Jimmy Chin

Mountains, Mountain, Big, Train

Mentorship is an incredibly huge responsibility. And you need to choose your mentors carefully, just like mentors choose their apprentices carefully. There has to be trust there, on a very deep level.

- Jimmy Chin

Trust, Deep, Very, Huge Responsibility

I loved going to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial in Taipei to watch all the old Chinese people doing tai chi and practicing kung fu. The monument was made of white marble, and it was beautiful. Sometimes my dad and I would practice with them.

- Jimmy Chin

Practice, Doing, Dad, Memorial

Fear is always there; it's a survival instinct. You just need to know how to manage it.

- Jimmy Chin

Need, How, Always, Manage

On climbs, there is a general way we manage fear. We look at things objectively, separating out perceived risk from real risk. You can really bring down the level of fear by knowing the real risks and setting aside the others. You also know that panicking just makes things worse.

- Jimmy Chin

Down, Bring, Climbs, Objectively

I've tried to eat little shrubs before. We were on an unsupported 20-plus day traverse, following the migration of endangered antelope across the Chang Tang Plateau. We were like, 'Oh, this is what they ate; we should try it.'

- Jimmy Chin

Before, Endangered, Across, Migration

I grew up studying martial arts, playing violin, swimming competitively, so I already had athletic focus, discipline and training. When I brought that to climbing, I became passionate.

- Jimmy Chin

Studying, Violin, Became, Martial Arts

The thing that I've always believed is that you have to follow your passion, and if climbing is your calling in life and your craft, to not do it is a tragedy. I am always going to encourage my children to follow their passions and dreams, whatever they are.

- Jimmy Chin

Dreams, Craft, Your, Climbing

Climbing is my art; I get so much joy and gratification from it.

- Jimmy Chin

Art, Joy, Gratification, Climbing

There's intense personal gratification in finding a mountain and becoming inspired by the aesthetics of an unclimbed line on that mountain, especially if that line has been tried by a lot of people who couldn't do it, and you get to set yourself up against the history of it.

- Jimmy Chin

Line, Been, Becoming, Gratification

Becoming a parent has changed the risk calculus for me. But it might be age, too, and seeing a lot of friends die in the mountains. Will I take the same risks I took in my 20s? Probably not, but I will always push myself in the mountains.

- Jimmy Chin

Mountains, Parent, Die, Changed

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