Jimmy Chin Quotes

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Jimmy Chin

Profession : Athlete

Birth : October 12, 1973

A lot of why I climb is for the friendship, the loyalty and trust, the shared experience of being in that moment.

Jimmy Chin

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

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

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

Jimmy Chin

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

I used to always judge other people's mistakes in the mountains. I think a bit differently now. Everybody's gotten away with a mistake or poor decision out there at one point or another, but sometimes it catches up to you, or sometimes you're just plain unlucky.

Jimmy Chin

I really believe that, as human beings, we have an innate need to explore, to see what's around the corner.

Jimmy Chin

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

Mountains are like the great equalizer. It doesn't matter who anyone is or what they do.

Jimmy Chin

I like the idea of infinite human potential, and a lot of my photography and filmmaking has been focused on that.

Jimmy Chin

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

I discovered and fell in love with skiing long before I started to climb. Skiing was really my first calling. As a kid, I grew up skiing in jeans in Minnesota.

Jimmy Chin

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

Creating films and photographs through situations that few others could experience is my life's inspiration.

Jimmy Chin

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

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

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

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

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

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