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