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