Perhaps believing in good design is like believing in God, it makes you an optimist.
—Terence Conran (1931–2020) English Designer, Businessman
A single word often betrays a great design.
—Jean Racine (1639–1699) French Dramatist
Lump the whole thing! say that the Creator made Italy from designs by Michel Angelo!
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
It is to be noted that when any part of this paper appears dull there is a design in it.
—Richard Steele (1672–1729) Irish Writer, Politician
To design the future effectively, you must first let go of your past.
—Charles J. Givens (1941–98) American Self-Help Writer
Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space.
—Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) German-American Architect, Designer
Architecture in general is frozen music.
—Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854) German Philosopher
Each person designs his own life, freedom gives him the power to carry out his own designs, and power gives the freedom to interfere with the designs of others.
—Eric Berne (1910–70) Canadian-American Psychiatrist
Designs in connection with postage stamps and coinage may be described, I think, as the silent ambassadors on national taste.
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) Irish Poet, Dramatist
Architecture is the art of how to waste space.
—Philip Johnson (1906–2005) American Architect, Curator, Designer
Bold in design, but timid in execution.
—Latin Proverb
Noble life demands a noble architecture for noble uses of noble men. Lack of culture means what it has always meant: ignoble civilization and therefore imminent downfall.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
Less is more.
—Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) German-American Architect, Designer
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
—Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English Novelist, Scriptwriter
Many things difficult in design prove easy in performance.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Less is more.
—Robert Browning (1812–89) English Poet
Art has to move you and design does not, unless it’s a good design for a bus.
—David Hockney (b.1937) English Painter, Draughtsman
Design in art is a recognition of the relation between various things, various elements in the creative flux. You can’t invent a design. You recognize it, in the fourth dimension. That is, with your blood and your bones, as well as with your eyes.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Critic
Delay always breeds danger, and to protract a great design is often to ruin it.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
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