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