The Best Dean Potter Quotes

October 10, 2018

What Are Your Favorite Dean Potter Quotes?

Dean Potter (April 14, 1972 – May 16, 2015) was an American extreme athlete. Potter was known for first ascents, free solo ascents, speed ascents, BASE jumps, baselining, wingsuit flying, high lining, alpine climbing, and more. Potter pushed the limits of what was possible and inspired a generation of daredevils.

Potter’s feats were impressive and his resume was a highlight reel that will impress any climber. A few highlights include the first solo fo Supercanaleta on Cerro Fitz Roy in 2002, a first solo ascent of Heaven (5.12d/13a) on Glacier Point in Yosemite in 2006, the first FreeBASE ascent of the Tiger via Deep Blue Sea (5.12+) in Switzerland in 2008, a FKT up the Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite in 2010, and the list goes on and on. Potter’s feats were inspiring, but also controversial – like when he climbed teh Delicate Arch in Arches National Park in 2006.

Unfortunately, 43-year-old Potter and his wingsuit partner Graham Hunt died during an illegal wing suit flight in Yosemite National Park in May 2016. Potter may have lived his life on the edge and he will always be remembered.

Below you’ll find a selection of the best Dean Potter quotes:

I don’t want to die, but I am OK with putting it all out there for the most beautiful expression of my life.
We who walk the narrow line have stood for free thinking for thousands of years. Let us continue balancing within the world as we try to understand the space between.
It’s one of the most fundamental desires of man, of being free and flying unhindered, and it really seems to go a lot with our founding fathers’ principles of freedom.
More and more people seem to be separating from nature. I’m trying to go in a different direction. I’m getting closer and closer.
There is a different way to live, and you shouldn’t feel that you’re forced to do anything but what your one life should be. And the one life should be following your passion and doing that unique thing that only you are perfect for.
I don’t have a lot of pressure on myself to be successful. I’m more of an artist. I just try to make myself more a part of the most beautiful painting as possible. And enjoy it.
I’m not a dark person—I don’t think about death all the time, but it is there for me. I’m no different than any other person out there: Every day and every moment, our lives are at stake. With me, it’s very easy to see: I fall off a cliff, I die. But life and death are right there for all of us. It’s the most common thing we all share.
A lot of people confuse free climbing with free solo. Free climbing is when we use ropes, but we only make upward progress with our bodies.
I just love any place that I can sit in the sun and feel the warmth of the sun’s rays, and feel the connection to the planet, really tapping into how small I am and really how insignificant I am in comparison to the universe.
Entranced by the flight of a raven, I watch its shadow move effortlessly against golden, shimmering granite. I long to be that free, flying above the cluttered world of normalcy, where so many are half alive.
For some reason, BASE jumping is misunderstood and our government forbids it and makes it illegal in most every place in the country. So I’m kind of a criminal here in the United States for pursuing the dream of flight, but everywhere else I go, every other country, I’m kind of looked up to, or fascinated with for the flying that I do.
I think everybody has a dream of flying at least once in their life. For me, it’s been over and over a recurring dream. It’s mostly that. That desire to be as free as the birds, to be unhindered. I started off as – and am still – a free solo climber. So being in the air is a huge fear of mine. So there’s a combination of going toward my fear as well as being fascinated with the air.
Calmly spinning, I scan as far away as I can see. The last rays of the day’s sun warm my back and my stare locks onto my own shadow. I follow the lines of my body on the stone in front of me, spreading my arms as wings, and bathe in the beauty of existence.
The moment before I jump is filled with anxiety and what-ifs. But then as soon as I enter the air, I’m filled with this calmness and that’s the main attraction to it. That’s why I do these death-consequence pursuits or arts.
I’m a pretty wild guy and I live pretty close to nature – I’ve often lived in caves or on the edge of cliffs or in forests – so it’s just second nature for me to tap into the movings of the weather and the world.

Which of these Dean Potter quotes is your favorite? Did we miss any quotes that we should add to the list? Let us know!

Learn more about Dean Potter on Wikipedia.org. Many of these quotes were found on AZQuotes.com.

Before you go, enjoy this YouTube video from National Geographic of Potter BASE jumping with his dog:

And finally a video from Outside TV highlighting the life of Dean Potter:

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