Observe inspirational graphic design quotes

Great graphic blueprint quotes serve as a source of wisdom, but also as a source of inspiration. They can lead us to view design in new means and experiment with new design techniques.

Our list of the fifty all-time graphic design quotes of all time features quotes from some of the icons of the blueprint industry. Their words provide u.s.a. with an insight into what made them tick and prove us their perspective on certain aspects of blueprint.

Graphic design quotes from a multifariousness of sources

While many of these graphic design quotes are from famous graphic designers, at that place are besides quotes from painters, auto designers, financiers, authors, entrepreneurs and even fictional Idiot box characters.

The wide variety of graphic design quotes in this list shows united states a range of opinions and beliefs on what is the right mode to practise things in the world of design. Each designer has its own methods, but if you want to create a meaningful design, stick to what techniques suit you lot best.

Create A Design

1. "At that place are three responses to a piece of design – yeah, no, and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for." - Milton Glaser

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The designer of the famous I ❤ NY logo, Millton Glaser is a man who knows what he's talking about when information technology comes to graphic design. This quote highlights what every designer should aim for when working on a blueprint – something that makes people go WOW.

Glaser believes that a simple yes is not good enough, as it doesn't evoke the kind of emotion that corking design should.

2. "Information technology'due south through mistakes that you actually can grow. Yous have to get bad in order to get good." - Paula Scher

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Design fable Paula Scher eases the worries of many struggling designers by albeit that mistakes can assistance you improve your craft. She highlights how mistakes should be used as a tool for cocky improvement, not cocky flagellation.

Coming from someone with such vast experience in pattern, it's a valuable piece of communication that should be heeded. Scher started her career as a layout artist for Random Business firm and gradually worked her way upward to become the first female primary of Pentagram.

3. "No masterpiece was e'er created by a lazy creative person." - Salvador Dalí

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In this quote, surrealist Salvador Dalí espouses the value of hard work when information technology comes to design and art. According to Dalí, a lazy artist never created a masterpiece.

Dalí himself could never be accused of being a lazy artist. He pursued painting, film, sculpture and photography amongst a host of other endeavours.

4. "Good design is all about making other designers feel like idiots considering that idea wasn't theirs." - Frank Chimero

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When design is so good that other designers experience foolish for not thinking of it, you know you're onto a winner. That's according to New York-based graphic designer Frank Chimero, whose projects have been featured in The New York Times, Time Magazine, Slate and The New Yorker.

This quote from Chimero encourages designers to try to make others wish they had created the design you've made, simultaneously inspiring them to better themselves creatively.

v. "Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it'due south ornamentation." - Jeffrey Zeldman

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1 of the most referenced graphic pattern quotes is this gem from designer, author and entrepreneur Jeffrey Zeldman.

Zeldman states that content precedes blueprint, and is intrinsic to its value. He says that without content, graphic pattern is but a beat out of its potential shelf and doesn't offer anything of substance. It might look nice, but it's only be decoration without content.

half dozen. "Pattern is thinking fabricated visual." - Saul Bass

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Designer Saul Bass is best known for creating memorable movie posters, title sequences and logos. Some of his famous posters include designs for The Shining, Beefcake of a Murder, Vertigo and The Man with the Golden Arm.

Bass believes that pattern is thinking made visual. His mind was certainly something to behold and his thoughts produced stunning design.

7. "Practise not seek praise, seek criticism." - Paul Arden

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The value of criticism is highlighted in this quote by the onetime creative director of Saatchi and Saatchi Paul Arden.

Praise is often fiddling and doesn't upshot in anything meaningful. Criticism on the other hand provides an opportunity to learn and grow. While sometimes criticism can be unhelpful, constructive criticism can exist highly beneficial.

8. "Designers may be the true intellectuals of the hereafter." - Paola Antonelli

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Here we meet Paola Antonelli sharing her belief that designers may be the true intellectuals of the hereafter. In a earth where visual communication has become so of import, in that location's a chance that her words might somewhen ring through.

Antonelli is a very forward thinking art curator, and has used the likes of video games and emojis in her exhibitions.

nine. "Color does not add a pleasant quality to pattern - it reinforces it." - Pierre Bonnard

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The power of color in design cannot be understated, and Pierre Bonnard emphasises that in this quote. Bonnard was an extremely talented painter, illustrator and printmaker who backed up his claims in his work.

Color is not just there to make a design look skillful, but to reinforce its bulletin. Its presence should non be regarded as an reconsideration, but a primal element of any design.

x. "No pattern works unless it embodies ideas that are held common by the people for whom the object is intended." - Adrian Forty

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Professor Adrian Forty states that functional design must take an audience that is equipped to respond to it. If the people who interact with a pattern don't discover some sort of commonality with the piece, the design is ultimately a failure.

Forty'south area of expertise is architecture, and then he'south very accustomed to designing buildings and spaces that are created for certain purposes.

11. "Design is a solution to a problem; art is a question to a problem." - John Maeda

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Perhaps 1 of the nigh controversial and thought-provoking graphic design quotes on this list is from designer and technologist John Maeda.

Maeda states that while design provides solutions to problems, art just exacerbates the problem by asking more questions. While many people might agree with Maeda, in that location is a lot to be said for the questions art prompts united states to enquire about all facets of life.

Blueprint should also not be viewed as merely a solution to a problem, but something that excites and amazes.

12. "Don't worry about people stealing your ideas, worry about the day they stop." - Jeffrey Zeldman

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Here nosotros have some other quote from Jeffrey Zeldman, this time on the subject of stealing ideas. Zeldman encourages us that we shouldn't be worried about our ideas existence stolen, but rather the fact that people may non want to steal them.

Zeldman seems to believe that the mark of a truly great piece of design is that people want to re-create it and apply it as their own idea.

xiii. "Design is the body language of your marketing. Don't slouch." - Mark King

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The quality of design can brand or break a marketing campaign. Designer and illustrator Mark King says that design is in fact the body linguistic communication of marketing and that slouching volition poorly reflect on your brand.

This graphic pattern quote encourages designers and marketers alike to put thought into their work and non to cut corners.

xiv. "I think designers who aren't selfish do really awful work." - Paul Sahre

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American graphic designer Paul Sahre unreservedly shares his thoughts on designers who aren't selfish with this withering remark.

Sahre seems to believe that designers need to take a degree of selfishness to create something of note. Without this, Sahre thinks that their work will be awful.

Sahre probably feels that some of his fellow designers are pandering to clients and that their ain unique style is not existence reflected in their creations.

xv. "Design adds value faster than information technology adds costs." - Thomas C. Gale

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This famous quote from automobile designer Thomas C. Gale says that investing in blueprint is a very worthwhile endeavour. He believes that the value of a car volition only be increased by design and that information technology will ultimately be worth the cost.

The aforementioned applies to whatever projection that pattern is a part of. Design will raise it, calculation more than features and increasing its appeal.

16. "Design creates civilization. Culture shapes values. Values make up one's mind the future." - Robert L. Peters

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Blueprint is more than than how it appears, it has the potential to create culture. It influences the behaviour of people and shapes their values.

Canadian graphic designer Robert L. Peters recognises the significance of what design can exercise and its power to shape the hereafter in its own image.

17. "Design tin be fine art. Design tin be aesthetics. Blueprint is so simple, that'southward why it is and so complicated." - Paul Rand

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Design can be interpreted as many different things, says Paul Rand. It can be viewed equally complex and artistic or as simple and functional.

The simplicity of design allows it to accept on so many unlike forms and this versatility also allows it to exist complex.

18. "Perfection is accomplished, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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One of the most famous graphic pattern quotes ever uttered came from the lips of the esteemed Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Saint-Exupéry was basically saying that perfection comes nearly, not from accumulating elements in your blueprint, but rather taking them away until you have something that's articulate and concise.

A famed poet, writer and journalist, Saint-Exupéry became a laureate of many of France's well-nigh coveted literary awards.

19. "Expert blueprint is obvious. Great pattern is transparent." - Joe Sparano

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According to Joe Sparano; if a designer is to truly create great blueprint, it must be a seamless and unobtrusive composition.

The blueprint must piece of work perfectly in tandem with the subject and not hinder its usefulness or conceal its pregnant in any mode.

20. "If design isn't profitable, then it's fine art." - Henrik Fisker

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Automotive designer Henrik Fisker states what he believes is the difference between design and art. Fisker makes the point that if a design does non yield a profit, then it should instead be considered art.

He seems to see art as a hobby and design as a business. Fisker's outlook is debatable, but for him and other entrepreneurs like him, turn a profit often comes outset.

21. "Technology over technique produces emotionless design." - Daniel Mall

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Creative manager Daniel Mall shows wisdom beyond his years with one of the most relevant graphic design quotes for the modern pattern scene.

Mall explains how favouring applied science over technique will only produce pattern that lacks emotion and doesn't resonate with its audience.

Impassioned and thoughtfully constructed designs will outshine mechanical, bland alternatives every day of the calendar week.

22. "If you pay peanuts, y'all get monkeys." - James Goldsmith

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While financier and tycoon James Goldsmith may non take been referring to design when he made this famous remark, the logic behind information technology can be applied to whatever profession.

The pattern manufacture draws many freelancers who don't always have the required skill to produce the design that a customer wants. To go a well-made, professional design, you'll accept to pay for it.

23. "Colors, similar features, follow the changes of the emotions." - Pablo Picasso

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As one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso knew a thing or two about using colour to convey emotions.

Picasso discusses color psychology'southward part in pattern and how the colours you choose tin can impact how people view what y'all've created.

For example, red is often seen as a fiery, dangerous, passionate and energetic colour, while blue is typically viewed as calm, professional, composed and reliable.

24. "Pattern is as much a thing of finding problems as it is solving them." - Bryan Lawson

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As both an builder and a psychologist, Bryan Lawson is a man who understands the thought process behind design better than virtually.

Lawson says that pattern is not only well-nigh solving problems, merely finding them also. Innovation must be a priority when it comes to design and Lawson knows how important it is to stay 1 stride ahead.

25. "Bad pattern shouts at yous. Good design is the silent seller." - Shane Meendering

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The idea that the best kind of design is the one which is least obvious is reinforced in this quote from designer Shane Meendering.

Born in 1987, Meendering has a good agreement of modern graphic design and she knows that mistakes that result in bad pattern will exist picked upwardly on quicker than e'er earlier.

Design doesn't take to exist loud and decorative to be effective, simply should preferably be fluid and camouflaged.

26. "Never half-ass 2 things. Whole-ass 1 matter." - Ron Swanson

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Some wise words here from fictional one-act character Ron Swanson, who realises the value in giving your all to a project.

Instead of trying to consummate two designs at once, designers should reserve all their time, free energy and focus for ane goal. Ultimately, this will pb to a more satisfactory result.

27. "Creativity is piercing the mundane to detect the marvelous." - Bill Moyers

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I of the truly inspirational graphic pattern quotes on this list is from American announcer Bill Moyers.

Moyers' beautifully phrased quote, "creativity is piercing the mundane to discover the marvelous", highlights the importance of artistic thinking in keeping life interesting and in aiding the discovery of new ways to do things.

28. "Good design begins with honesty, asks tough questions, comes from collaboration and from trusting your intuition." - Freeman Thomas

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As this listing proves, motorcar designers can exist a great source of graphic design quotes. Freeman Thomas serves up some other here by exclaiming that good design is honest and asks the tough questions.

Co-ordinate to Thomas, it has its roots in working together and going with your gut feeling most how to approach the pattern.

Thomas has years of experience working for many large automobile brands and he consistently helped to design some of the world'southward nigh iconic cars.

29. "Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything you lot are willing to practice, you tin do." - Bob Ross

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Bob Ross provides some inspirational words here for designers who may be questioning whether they have the talent to go far.

He says that talent is really a pursued interest, and that if you practice enough, you will attain the ability to achieve your goals.

Ross was a big proponent of a do-information technology-yourself attitude, and he hosted a very successful instructional Idiot box show called The Joy of Painting.

30. "Expert art inspires; Good design motivates." - Otl Aicher

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At that place are quite a few graphic pattern quotes that endeavour to highlight the departure between design and art. High german graphic designer Otl Aicher shares a few simple, however thought provoking, words on the subject.

Aicher contrasts the furnishings that art and design accept on people. In his opinion, art is something that provides inspiration for further creativity, whereas design acts as a medium for motivation.

31. "When typography is on betoken, words become images." - Shawn Lukas

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Typography is a fundamental office of graphic design, and information technology's the quality of its execution will oft make or break a pattern.

If the typography a designer chooses doesn't adapt the rest of the composition, the overall expect can be quite jarring. However, when typography works well, words become images.

The human being behind the quote, Shawn Lukas, is an experience designer who works to create visually impactful and inspirational designs.

32. "People don't employ a product because of the slap-up design; great design helps them utilise the product." - Viran Anuradha Dayaratne

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Every bit Viran Anuradha Dayaratne says, design solitary does not make a production, but it tin ensure that a product achieves optimum functionality. A badly designed product not only looks bad, simply information technology'south harder to use also.

Dayaratne is a UX Technical Architect by trade, so he is accustomed to making sure the user experience of a product is the best it tin be.

33. "It'southward art if it can't be explained. It'south fashion if no one asks for an explanation. It's design if information technology doesn't demand explanation." - Wouter Stokkel

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Wouter Stokkel cleverly explains what he believes to be the difference between art, fashion and design in one of the most frank graphic design quotes on this listing.

It's clear that design is digital consultant Stokkel's favourite of the three, but he doesn't openly criticise the other disciplines either. Art can't exist explained, and in style, no one asks for an caption.

34. "If y'all find an element of your interface requires instructions, then you need to redesign it." - Dan Rubin

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Dan Rubin echoes the stance of Stokkel here by maxim how he believes that good blueprint explains itself. If it doesn't explain itself, then it doesn't work.

The goal of an interface should be to make things clear for a user. If the interface itself needs instructions, then its purpose is defeated.

35. "Design is like a mom, nobody notices when she'due south effectually, but everybody misses her when she'south not." - Santiago Borray

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As a graphic designer with 11 years experience, Santiago Borray knows what it takes to create blueprint that works.

Here he compares design to a mother. Most of the time a mother will piece of work away tirelessly and no one will pay whatsoever heed to her, only when she is gone, everyone will sit up and accept notice.

36. "A graphic designer is a machine that turns java into beautiful, functional imagery." - Lisa Manson

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Brand strategist Lisa Manson references the crucial role of graphic designers in marketing products. Before graphic design comes into play, a production stands on its own claim.

Even so, after graphic design is used to create relevant advertising imagery and packaging for the product, a product grows beyond itself and tin can capture people's imagination.

37. "Everybody's a web designer until, you know, they actually try to do it." - Gabe Boning

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Hither we see ane of the graphic design quotes that talk about how difficult it actually is to create high-quality design.

Software development engineer Boning says that everyone likes to think they tin can do web blueprint, but when they really give information technology a shot, they realise that they might not exist and so expert at it.

38. "Blueprint has to work, art does not." - Donald Judd

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Minimalist Donald Judd shares his opinion that pattern needs to work to achieve its goals. On the other paw, Judd believes that art does non need to work.

Fine art is often open up to interpretation, whereas design is far more clear cut. If design isn't working, and then it is a failure. Art has much more room to manoeuvre.

39. "A expert designer finds an elegant manner to put everything you need on a page. A cracking designer convinces you half that shit is unnecessary." - Mike Monteiro

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Here nosotros encounter another designer sharing their belief that less is more. Too much information tin can harm a design and lead to a cluttered effect.

Monteiro says that what makes a designer bully is the power to convince their clients to go rid of half the things they thought they needed in a design.

40. "Standards are like sex; 1 fault, and you're stuck supporting it forever!" - Marking Pilgrim

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I of the wittiest and about memorable graphic blueprint quotes on this list comes from software developer and writer Mark Pilgrim.

While non speaking well-nigh design in detail, Pilgrim tells u.s. that if you lot permit your standards drop, you volition accept the be held answerable for information technology. Your reputation can easily be hindered by bad work too.

41. "A user interface is similar a joke. If you take to explain it, it'south not that expert." - Martin LeBlanc

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Similar some of the previous graphic design quotes on this listing, Martin LeBlanc's analogy laments bad user interfaces.

He believes the goal of any user interface should be to be equally seamless and intuitive as possible. Users shouldn't need fourth dimension to effigy out the interface, but should exist able to start right abroad.

42. "The culling to good design is bad design, non no design at all." - Douglas Martin

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A world without design is a bleak identify, or every bit Douglas Martin puts it, "The alternative to good design is bad blueprint, not no design at all."

Even if the design you produce isn't the best there is, it's better than nil. You should never exclude design completely.

43. "Graphic blueprint will save the world right after rock and roll does." - David Carson

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Art managing director rock and curl magazine Ray Gun, David Carson, talks upwards two of his favourite loves in this graphic pattern quote.

Carson knew better than most how to weave the ii together and has created hitting magazine covers for many years.

44. "Nifty ideas, like babies, are often conceived afterwards a few glasses of wine." - Sharon Moore

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When information technology comes to creating, no thing what sort of creating you're doing, it'southward no damage to relax to relax and take a few spectacles of wine.

Every bit Sharon Moore insinuates, non every swell thought came about by careful thought and planning, just sometimes past random chance.

45. "To create a memorable design you need to start with a idea that'south worth remembering." - Thomas Manss

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According to German graphic designer Thomas Manss, a pattern y'all create must exist inspired past something that is in itself memorable, or that design will be forgotten.

The idea you use as inspiration for the pattern should be a thought that yous feel your audience tin can take something abroad from.

46. "Information technology's very easy to be different, only very difficult to be better." - Jonathan Ive

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Existence unlike used to exist something that was unique, but at present everyone is their ain kind of different.

Acclaimed British industrial designer Jonathan Ive stresses that anyone can be unlike, merely it's and so much harder to be amend.

47. "Information technology's really hard to pattern products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you lot evidence it to them." - Steve Jobs

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Steve Jobs need no introduction, but what people might non know him for is this quote about designing products.

Jobs talks about how people often don't know what they want until you show information technology to them. Information technology's one of the graphic blueprint quotes on this list that focuses on the idea that designers should create for themselves and if the design is proficient enough, people will like information technology.

48. "The details are not the details. They brand the design." - Charles Eames

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While some may say the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, the parts are essential to the equation.

Charles Eames says that details are non simply pocket-sized aspects of a larger piece, but rather the building blocks of the pattern you lot make.

49. "Simply because yous've always done it that way doesn't hateful information technology's not incredibly stupid." - Despair Poster

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The truth frequently hits hard. No matter what profession you lot're in, hearing criticism of your piece of work tin can exist uncomfortable.

1 of the virtually hard hitting graphic pattern quotes on the list is from despair.com, the self-proclaimed dwelling house of demotivators.

While it'due south mostly a joke, there is a kernel of wisdom here too. Information technology prompts designers to look at the methods they've been using and see if they need to make any changes.

fifty. "Using a watermark on your piece of work is like peeing on your property so no one will steal them." - Thomas Amador

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Watermarks are the source of much debate. Should you run a risk harming the appearance of your work to ensure no one claims it as their own? Ultimately, the choice lies with the designer and depends on what they desire for their design.

UX designer Thomas Amador certainly feels that watermarks are a bad idea. He goes equally far as comparison it to urinating on your belongings.

Apply these graphic pattern quotes to your advantage

At present that you've read through the 50 best graphic blueprint quotes of all fourth dimension, it'south time to choose your favorite quotes and take something from them. Did Dan Rubin's quote nearly redesigning elements of your interface that need instructions to inspire you to amend your ain user interface? Or did Viran Anuradha Dayaratne'south quote on product design motivate you to brand your adjacent product that fiddling chip meliorate?

For more graphic blueprint tips, read our ' Creative Ideas to Increment Sales ' e-book.

Permit u.s.a. know past tweeting using the handle @getdesignwizard. We'd beloved to hear which quotes inspired you the most.