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