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