# Selected Quotations

# Saint Exupery

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.

# Scott Kelly

We had a saying in the Navy: ‘Better is the enemy of good enough,’

# Dieter Rams

My intention is to omit every unneeded element in order to place the essentials in the foreground. Forms will then become placid, soothingly comprehensible, and long-lasting.

Our electrical appliances should be humble servants, to be seen and heard as little as possible. They should ideally stay in the background, like a valet in the old days, that one hardly noticed

We are economical with form and color, prioritize simple forms, avoid unnecessary complexity, do without ornament. Instead there is order and clarification. We measure every detail against the question of whether it serves function and facilitates handling

# Bruno Munari

We have (though not all at once, of course) eaten the missing part mixed up in our soup. It is continual use that has given the spoon its new shape. This is the shape the saucepan has made by constantly rubbing away at the spoon until it eventually shows us what shape a spoon for stirring soup should be.

# Diamond Age

“Which path do you intend to take, Nell?” said the Constable, sounding very interested. “Conformity or rebellion?” “Neither one. Both ways are simple-minded- they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity”.

# Hackers pg 159

I had some proscription against having fun. I was not allowed to have fun. The fun was in my work… It was if my way of asserting potency was to be able to build things that worked.

# Asterios Polyp

Yes try try. Am I forever to be sabotaged by good intentions?

# Werner Herzog

Before we start, are there any philosophical insights you'd like to give your readers so they might sleep easier at nights?

Well, let me say just this, something for human beings everywhere, whether they be filmmakers or otherwise. I can answer your question only by quoting hotel mogul Conrad Hilton, who was once asked what he would like to pass on to posterity. 'Whenever you take a shower, always make sure the curtain is inside the tub,' he said. So I sit here and recommend to people the same. Never ever forget the shower curtain.