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