strong opinions aren’t free

“If no one’s upset by what you’re saying, you’re probably not pushing hard enough.”

– Rework by Justin Fried of 37signals

FULL QUOTE: Strong opinions aren’t free. You’ll turn some people off. They’ll accuse you of being arrogant and aloof. That’s life. For everyone that loves you, there will be others who hate you. If no one’s upset by what you’re saying, you’re probably not pushing hard enough. (And you’re probably boring, too.)

to be persuasive

“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful.”

— Edward R. Murrow

I found this quote by Edward Murrow while reading my RSS feeds via Swiss Miss‘ blog. Recently I gave a lecture at a local college to a few graduating classes on the topic of running an independent design business. One of the topics I discussed was the importance of being able to sell and talk about your work as a designer. How being good sells yourself to other designers and being persuasive sells your work to clients; I found this quote to be quite fitting and true.

every child is an artist

Quote from the book A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative by Roger von Oech discussing the importance of imagination and creative questioning and ‘what-ifs’.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist after growing up”

— Pablo Picasso

Based on comments on Twitter and below, here is a comprehensive explanation of the quote above:

The quote is in direct relation to imagination and “growing up.” As children it is alright in the eyes of society to question things, imagine different alternatives, color an elephant pink, or ask why the sky isn’t red instead of blue. As we grow older education institutions teach us more of a logical approach to thinking. We are taught to regurgitate information instead of thinking of various solutions to a problem.

A further quote from A Whack on the Side of the Head:

“When we are young our mind is cultivated in fairy tales and imagination games, but then we are told to “grow up.” As people grow older, they get used to the “what is” of reality and forget about the possibilities that asking “what if” can generate.”

Often imaginative thinking is considered not practical.

“The logic that works so well in judging and executing ideas may stifle the creative process if it prevents [the artist] in us from exploring unusual imaginative ideas.”