The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life; it’s so easy to make it complex.
There’s no difference between a pessimist who says, ‘It’s all over, don’t bother trying to do anything, forget about voting, it won’t make a difference,’ and an optimist who says, ‘Relax, everything is going to turn out fine.’ Either way the results are the same. Nothing gets done.
I don’t really believe that humans are evil; it is just that we are not very intelligent animals. No animal is so stupid as to foul its only nest, except humans.
Uncurious people do not lead examined lives; they cannot see causes that lie deeper than the surface.
Reusing something instead of immediately discarding it, when done for the right reasons, can be an act of love which expresses our own dignity. –.
What we take, how and what we make, what we waste, is in fact a question of ethics.
Good design is as little design as possible.
In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness. Studying.
It was also clear that in order to survive at this game, we had to get serious.
If you focus on the process of climbing, you’ll end up on the summit.
A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation.
To re-create the entrepreneurial atmosphere of the sort we’d had at Chouinard Equipment, we broke the line into eight categories and hired eight product czars to manage them. Each was responsible for his or her own product development, marketing, inventory, quality control, and coordination with the three sales channels – wholesale, mail order, and retail.
Why is a worm so effective? Because it is always moving.
Once you lose the discipline of functionality as a design guidepost, the imagination runs amok.
Even if he or she isn’t aware of it, every individual spends an entire lifetime creating and evolving a personal image that others perceive.
Work had to be enjoyable on a daily basis.
You have to be true to yourself; you have to know your strengths and limitations and live within your means.
Function must dictate form.
Patagonia’s image is a human voice. It expresses the joy of people who love the world, who are passionate about their beliefs, and who want to influence the future. It is not processed; it won’t compromise its humanity. This means that it will offend, and it will inspire.
Again, like the Zen approach to archery or anything else, you identify the goal and then forget about it and concentrate on the process. Measure.
But you are what you do, not what you say you are.