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