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