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