My Favorite Quotes

I've been collecting favorite quotes that I've read from different books and around the inter webs, and I thought that I would share them here. This collection is open-ended, where I will keep adding more as I get them.

Since I found some of these online, I cannot say that these are 100 percent accurate or if these people actually said them. Take them for what they're worth, good words of wisdom to relate to and live by.



"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." 
- H.G. Wells

"...Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; 
One equal temper of heroic hearts, 
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
- Alfred Lord Tennyson

"It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle."
- Ernest Hemingway

"Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride." 
- John F. Kennedy

"Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia." 
- H.G. Wells

"The computer is like a bicycle for our minds." 
- Steve Jobs

"… I believe that as long as you operate your vehicle compassionately and responsibly, it doesn't matter what kind of vehicle it is."
- Bike Snob NYC

"El viento es mi enemigo" 

"El viento es mi amigo"

"The wind is my friend 
It makes me strong 
It makes the ride seem long"

"Everyone in their life has his own particular way of expressing life's purpose—the lawyer his eloquence, the painter his palette, and the man of letters his pen from which quick words of his story flow. I have my bicycle."
- Gino Bartali

"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams."
- 'Ode' by Arthur O'Shaughnessyi. Quoted from Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” 
- Scott Adams

“Who climbs with toil, wheresoever, 
Shall find wings waiting there.” 
- Henry Charles Beeching, 'Going Down Hill on a Bicycle: A Boy's Song'

“Be at one with the universe. If you can't do that, at least be at one with your bike."
- Lennard Zinn

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." 
- Albert Einstein

"I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating."
- Sophocles

"A universal truth of bicycling is this - pain is inevitable, suffering is optional." 
- Robert Penn

"Everything about riding a bicycle compels you towards beauty." 
- Bike Snob NYC

"If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good."
- Dr. Seuss

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." 
- Martin Luther King Jr.

"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good." 
- Thomas Paine

The Items I Carry - From 2007 to 2014

I started contributing to a Flickr group called "The Items We Carry." They ask for us to post pics of the small things we put in our pockets or on our persons — the essentials we need to function daily at a basic level. *If you don't have pockets and say, are a lady, then your purse may serve as your pockets.

I found it interesting to see what other people were carrying, as well as fun to share my own stuff. I didn't get every year, but you can get the idea.

What's even more interesting to me is to see how my things have changed over the years - and how many stay the same. My goal is to start reducing and simplifying my life - to need less and carry less.

2007:

2009:


2011:


2013:


2014:

My Manifesto on Freelance Work

Rant.

I am a graphic designer. I do creative stuff for my job all day long and get paid for it, which is pretty damn cool. I'm also a very busy person and TIME is very, very valuable to me – even if it's finding time for myself to just chill.

Lately, I've become aggravated by the idea of doing freelance work. Before I go any further, let me describe the nature of freelance work, as it has come to me lately. The name FREElance WORK seems to have become a more literal interpretation of the concept. People want me to do WORK for them – for FREE. Hence, my aggravation.

If you have a doctor as a neighbor, would you ask for free treatment? If your sister's, friend's dad is a lawyer, would you expect him to give you free council? If one of the guys on your PTA has a landscaping business, would you expect him to mow your lawn for free? If you met a chef at a party, would you expect her to come home and cook a free gourmet meal for your family and friends? If you thought yes to any of these questions, then I don't need you in my life.

It's the same thing with graphic designers.

Now, I don't mind working and I don't mind working for free – but it has to be on my terms. If it's a great creative opportunity (or for a good cause, that I support) and I feel is worthy of my time, I will be more than happy to help. Also, if I have time, I'll even help out a close friend in need. Now, that's CLOSE friend, not Facebook friend, not co-worker, not neighbor.

If you do manage to get free work out of me, please don't micro-manage or creative direct it. I'm open to good feedback and collaboration, but I'm not your production artist ready to build-out your bad ideas. As stated above, I'll do free work, but only if it's a 'creative opportunity'. The moment you start dictating bad art direction, is the moment that project is no longer 'creative'.

So, don't come to me with your silly pet project – like your kid's Minecraft birthday invitation, because you are too cheap to buy the ones in the store. Although you might think it's easy for me, it still takes time. Time, as I wrote earlier, is very valuable to me.

Rant over.