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