“He who has not first laid his foundations may be able with great ability to lay them afterwards, but they will be laid with trouble to the architect and danger to the building.”

– Machiavelli, The Prince (1513)

“Closed systems can hold a pose well enough, but open systems can dance.”

– Steve Grand

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

— John Adams

“The innovator, or designer, or planner acts politically in all cases where he is producing essential innovation — even though he may not know it — though he should!”

— Horst Rittel

“The day you teach the child the name of the bird, the child will never see that bird again.”

— Krishnamurti

“The capital has its order, the village its customs.”

— Javanese proverb

“The idea that information can be stored in a changing world without an overwhelming depreciation in its value is false.”

— Norbert Wiener (1950)

“If you’re in the business of making something, be in the business of making something great.”

— Bob Iger

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”

— John Muir