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