17 Quotes by George Nelson

You don't think your way to creative work. You work your way to creative thinking.

Good design, like good painting, cooking, architecture or whatever you like, is a manifestation of the capacity of the human spirit to transcend its limitations.

No design can exist in isolation. It is always related, sometimes in very complex ways, to an entire constellation of influencing situations and attitudes. What we call a good design is one which achieves integrity – that is, unity or wholeness – in balanced relation to its environment.

Design is a response to social change.

You don’t think your way to creative work. You work your way to creative thinking.

The simple joy of taking an idea into one’s own hands and giving it proper form, that’s exciting.

I have never met a designer who was retained to keep things the same as they were.

About arrows – “They prick, cajole, exhort, sell, direct; and there is no way of measuring the amount of brain damage they do. It comes for free, however, like air pollution, Muzak in elevators, and the gentle sound of police sirens.