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