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