I’ve been mulling over a project involving letterpress printed design wisdom.

Today, I am fantasizing about letterpress printing a chapbook, in an aphorism-reflection format inspired by Jan Zwicky’s beautiful Lyric Philosophy and Wisdom & Metaphor.

Here is my aphorism list so far:

• “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” (Winston Churchill)
• “Design is everything. Everything is design.” (Paul Rand)
• “Design should be invisible.” (Beatrice Warde)
• “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
• “Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
• “In true love it is the soul that envelops the body.” (Friedrich Nietzsche)
• “Men who love wisdom should acquaint themselves with a great many particulars” (Heraclitus)
• “The best design tool is a long eraser with a pencil at one end.” (Marty Neumeier)
• “You can’t decide the way forward. You have to design the way forward.” (Marty Neumeier)
• “Compete to be unique, not the best” (Joan Magretta, channeling Michael Porter)
• “Usefulness, usability, and desirability: A useful design is one that people need and will use. A usable design is one they can either use immediately or learn to use readily. A desirable design is one they want.” (Liz Sanders)
• “We think with our hands.” (Tim Brown)
• “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.” (Anonymous)
• “Behind a desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.” (John LeCarre)
• “Conflict divides the world into four halves.” (Anomalogue)
• “Craft is material dialogue.” (Anomalogue)
• “A problem well put is a problem half solved.” (John Dewey)
• “If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first fifty-five minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.” (Albert Einstein)
• “The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.” (Bertrand Russell)
• “Start anywhere.” (John Cage)
• “Nothing happens without a plan. Nothing happens according to plan.” (Anonymous)
• “No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.” (Carl von Clausewitz)
• “A philosophical problem has the form: ‘I don’t know my way about.'” (Ludwig Wittgenstein)
• “The aim of philosophy is to understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term.” (Willfred Sellars)
• “He who sees badly sees less and less; he who listens badly hears more than has been said.” (Friedrich Nietzsche)
• “What has a name is real.” (Basque saying)
• “Never mistake motion for action.” (Ernest Hemingway)
• “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” (Alan Kay)
• “The first minute of action is worth more than a year of perfect planning.” (James Clear)
• “It is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.” (Adlai Stevenson)

I need more design-related aphorisms. If you have any, please share.