Thought Merchants / Provocation
Provocation.
Ideas that challenge conventional thinking.
48 collected quotes
The collection
Latest first
You can get as high as you like in my museum, just don't touch anything.
View quote There are three ways to make a living: lie to people who want to be lied to, and you'll get rich; tell the truth to those who want the truth, and you'll make a living; tell the truth to those who want to be lied to, and you'll go broke. The rest is commentary.
View quote Delight without deluding.
View quote Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.
View quote It seems necessary to me, then, that all people at a session be willing to sound foolish and listen to others sound foolish.
View quote Creativity is just deviance put to good use.
View quote Simplicity is a great virtue, but it requires hard work to achieve and education to appreciate. And to make matters worse, complexity sells better.
View quote What I cannot create, I do not understand.
View quote A goal without a plan is just a wish.
View quote All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.
View quote Art is useless by definition. If it was useful, it would be a tool.
View quote Data absent the ability to draw insights from is like cholesterol in your arteries, it just takes up space and does nothing to help you be healthy.
View quote Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent.
View quote If you have a feed you are being fed.
View quote Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
View quote The art of art, the glory of expression, is simplicity.
View quote The role of the designer is that of a good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.
View quote You don't need more intensity, you need more consistency. Intensity impresses; consistency transforms.
View quote But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you.
View quote Imagination does not become great until human beings, given the courage and strength, use it to create.
View quote Measure what is important, don't make important what you can measure.
View quote One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day has been.
View quote The history of organizations (and of nations) is littered with the corpses of enterprises which failed to respond appropriately to the demands of change.
View quote The mind, in discovering truths, acts in the same manner as it acts through the eye in discovering objects; when once any object has been seen, it is impossible to put the mind back to the same condition it was in before it saw it.
View quote The opposite of play is not work, it's depression.
View quote There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.
View quote Tip the world on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles.
View quote When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.
View quote All too much of the man-made is ugly, inefficient, depressing chaos.
View quote AM/FM Principal: Actual Machines vs Fucking Magic.
View quote Chance favors the prepared mind.
View quote Humans solve problems by adding complexity, even when it’s against our best interests.
View quote Instructions are the list of things you designed incorrectly.
View quote Less, but better.
View quote Question everything generally thought to be obvious.
View quote Quiet is better than loud.
View quote Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.
View quote You will learn most things by looking, but reading gives understanding. Reading will make you free.
View quote Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice.
View quote It’s in the valley of failure that we sow the seeds of success.
View quote Joy is a well-made object, equaled only by the joy of making it.
View quote Ninety percent of everything is crap.
View quote Nobody reads advertising. People read what interests them, and sometimes it's an ad.
View quote Not everything is design. But design is about everything. So do yourself a favor: be ready for anything.
View quote The very best news is bad news delivered early enough to fix it.
View quote To be interesting, be interested.
View quote Trust arrives on foot, but leaves on horseback.
View quote Work? It’s just serious play.
View quote