My Favourite Inspirational Quotes on Life and Design
by Olegs Belousovs •
My collection of random famous (and not) quotes, taken from various books, articles, and said by parents/friends, on the topics of life, work, and design.
The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one’s appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.
The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing.
Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.
Music is the space between the notes.
If you have no critics you’ll likely have no success.
The things you own end up owning you.
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.
It’s better to burn out than to fade away.
Finché la gente accetterà la spazzatura, sarà redditizio venderla.
Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
You can do anything, but not everything.
Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.
Comparison is the death of joy.
A designer knows he has achieved perfection, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Life is ours to be spent, not to be saved.
When you stop moving, the music stops.
È meglio essere primi che meglio degli altri.
Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.
Quit picking fights and go make something!
Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.
Everything popular is wrong.
The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything.
Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
Do not judge me by my successes; judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.
If our eyes are always looking for weakness, we begin to lose the intuition to notice the beauty.
Senza crisi non ci sono sfide, senza sfide la vita è una routine, una lenta agonia.
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.
The best design is the simplest one that works.
Waiting for inspiration is like standing at the airport waiting for a train.
Diciamo di ammazzare il tempo come se, purtroppo, non fosse il tempo ad ammazzare noi.
The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without the work.
I think you just have to work hard for about 10 years before you know what you’re doing.
Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.
What people say, what people do, and what people say they do are entirely different things.
Everybody is interesting when they are interested in something.
I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.
Don’t criticize unless you can do better.
If you can’t solve a problem, then there is an easier problem you can solve: find it.
You aren’t learning anything when you’re talking.
Success is not delivering a feature; success is learning how to solve the customer’s problem.
When the wind of change blows, some people build walls, others build windmills.
…there is nothing new under the sun.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.
Time is the only resource we have that is nonrenewable.
What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
The best defense is a good offense.
A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.
Art is theft.
He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast.
Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one.
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.
The good life consists in enjoying the creativity of others, and in sharing our own, not just in having our basic needs met.
Moderation is a fatal thing… Nothing succeeds like excess.
If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.
View obstacles as opportunities for growth.
Не имей сто рублей, а имей сто друзей.
Gran parte dello stress deriva da impegni – presi con se stessi o con gli altri – gestiti in modo non adeguato.
Being right keeps you in place, being wrong forces you to explore.
For the want of a nail the shoe was lost, For the want of a shoe the horse was lost, For the want of a horse the rider was lost, For the want of a rider the battle was lost, For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost, And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
Come il ferro è consumato dalla ruggine, così gli invidiosi sono consumati dalla loro stessa passione.
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.
It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.
It’s easier to make things people want, than it is to make people want things.
Dovete andare fieri del vostro nemico; allora i successi del vostro nemico saranno anche i vostri successi.
As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.
If you get, give. If you learn, teach.
Men have become the tools of their tools.
The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.
Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.
It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.
Fall seven times and stand up eight.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
You never know what you can do till you try.
Ciò che conta è quello che impari quando sai già tutto.
What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
If our eyes are always looking for weakness, we begin to lose the intuition to notice the beauty.
The beginning is the half of every action.
Data explains, stories inspire.
Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.
You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don’t know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know.
It’s better to see once than hear a hundred times.
Always in motion is the future.
The days are long, but the years are short.
Without data you’re just another person with an opinion.
Every entrepreneur I have ever met is an artist. They are all forced to become comfortable with failure. And for entrepreneurs, their canvas is their company.
…a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention…
If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
Design is like air, you only notice it when it’s bad.
Good design is as little design as possible.
What we fear of doing most is usually what we most need to do.
A critic is a man who knows the way but can’t drive the car.
The distance between dreams and reality is called discipline.
If you can change your mind, you can change your life.
When you are tired of saying it, they are starting to hear it.
Meglio vivere d’istanti e d’istinti che distanti e distinti.
A dream will not become an innovation if there is no realisation.
Hell is other people.
Decide what you stand for. And then stand for it all the time.
Serious-minded people have few ideas. People with ideas are never serious.
The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.
The future is a journey, not a destination.
The most important things in life aren’t things.
Leave something for someone but don’t leave someone for something.
It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.
Work to become, not to acquire.
A true leader does not give orders. A true leader gives explanations.
You can fool everyone else, but you can’t fool your own mind.
It is difficult to judge beauty: beauty is an enigma.
Everywhere is a walking distance if you have the time
The best design tool is a long eraser with a pencil at one end.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.
The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.
Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
Whatever we say, we are always talking about ourselves.
Many of the things you can count, don’t count. Many of the things you can’t count really count.
Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.
When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.
La motivazione è il carburante del lavoro intellettuale.
An ounce of practice is generally worth more than a ton of theory.
In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future.
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
If everything is important, then nothing is.
The best way to predict your future is to create it.
As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
I don’t know what I think until I write it down.
The real risk is in not changing. I have to feel that I’m after something. If I make money, fine. But I’d rather be striving. It’s the striving, man, it’s that I want.
Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.
Fear is often just the imagination taking a wrong turn.
Never reply when you are angry. Never make a promise when you are happy. Never make decision when you are sad.
The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.
Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.
What works good is better than what looks good, because what works good lasts.
A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
Believe in yourself and stop trying to convince others.
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
Your work is something you do, not who you are.
Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.
To understand is to know what to do.
It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.
The problem contains the solution.
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.
There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others.
When there’s nothing, you can do anything.
The days are long, but the years are short.
Change will lead to insight far more often than insight will lead to change.
It is far better for a man to go wrong in freedom than to go right in chains.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Life is too short to keep doing the same thing over and over and over again.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
Even the strongest man cannot lift himself up.
There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.
You can only organize something if you understand how it works.
Without great solitude no serious work is possible.
You are as great as the cause that you serve and as young as your dreams.
You can’t TRY to do things, you must simply DO them.
Designer can design a solution to a problem, but they can’t design a solution to a disagreement.
Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.
Non lo so quale sia la chiave del successo, ma la chiave per il fallimento è nel cercare di accontentare tutti.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there.
What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.
The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
Those who tell the stories rule society.
It always seems impossible until it’s done.
La conoscenza non è sufficiente, dobbiamo applicarla. La volontà non è abbastanza, dobbiamo agire.
Make yourself become who you are.
If our eyes are always looking for weakness, we begin to lose the intuition to notice the beauty.