Ben Franklin on writing and doing
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
Seth Godin on business ethics
“The happy theory of business ethics is this: do the right thing and you will also maximize your long-term profit…
The unhappy theory of business ethics is this: you have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize profit…
It comes down to this: only people can have ethics… You either do work you are proud of, or you work to make the maximum amount of money.”
Ben Pieratt on work
“For some people, work is personal.”
I’ve enjoyed reading a few of this guy’s posts. Here’s another quote, i resonate with the “within the larger context of designing a business” thing:
“I still spend a fair amount of time pushing pixels and worrying about grids, but its all within the larger context of building a business, designing a business.”
G.K. Chesterton on art
“Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.”
G.K. Chesterton
Haruki Murakami on assholes
“Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Only assholes do that.”
I don’t know if I agree… I can get myself further by caring for myself, I think. Balance there, though. Self pity, in my experience, is like a dormant volcano you want to just skirt the edges of, not fall down into.
Jim Coudal on moving from service to products
“The problem with doing a project that’s important to you in your spare time is that there isn’t any.”
Good to hear Jim Coudal recount the journey he and his small company took. He’s got good thoughts.
Parkinson on side projects
“Work expands to fill the time available for its completion definition.”
Merlin Mann on doing a better do
“I want to become an evangelist for hard work and editing, and I want to get to a place where it shows in everything that I do, make, and share. Yes, even if it makes me sound like a fancy guy who just doesn’t get it. Fuck it.”
One of the better short reads on why we feel this way, those of us who feel it, and why we care so much about the quality of our dick jokes.
Sidney Poitier on matterful work
“I had chosen to use my work as a reflection of my values.”
Stephen Spielberg on when it’s magical
“It’s never magical until people tell you it was magical.”
There’s some great stuff in these interviews via @jonpdx. A little neutered, but I’m hungry for these kinds of interviews.
“I had a point of view about how you could recalibrate the tone of it, and the balance.”
I like this quote from Ron Howard because it’s my kind of skill: I’m shit-poor at inventing a story, but I’m great at editing and developing, having a point of view about where it should go and how it should get there. This is how he got involved in the movie in the first place. I thought that was cool.