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