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