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