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