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