George Lois Quotes

• You can be cautious or you can be creative, but there’s no such thing as a Cautious Creative.

  George Lois

  Creative, Be Creative, Cautious

  "Author Q&A with George Lois: Damn Good Advice". Interview with Steve Kroeter, www.designersandbooks.com. May 3, 2012.

  78 Copy quote

• Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.

  George Lois

  Inspirational, Teamwork, Creativity

  "'Damn Good Advice' From One Of The Real 'Mad Men'". Interview with Renee Montagne, www.npr.org. March 19, 2012.

  81 Copy quote

• Advertising is poison gas. It should bring tears to your eyes, unhinge your nervous system and knock you out.

  George Lois

  Eye, Tears, Poison

  68 Copy quote

• Creativity can solve almost any problem.

  George Lois

  Creativity, Originality, Problem

  George Lois (2008). “George Lois on His Creation of the Big Idea”, Editions Assouline

  63 Copy quote

• The more creative you are the more trouble you're in. You have to be courageous!

  George Lois

  Creative, Courageous, Trouble

  73 Copy quote

• To create great work, here's how you must spend your time:
  1% Inspiration
  9% Perspiration
  90% Justification

  George Lois

  Inspiration, Design, Great Work

  74 Copy quote

• Nothing comes from nothing. You must continuously feed the inner beast that sparks and inspires.

  George Lois

  Creativity, Inspire, Sparks

  66 Copy quote

• Follow your bliss. That which you love you must spend your life doing, as passionately and as perfectly as your heart, mind and instincts allow. The sooner you identify that bliss, which surely resides in the soul of most human beings, the greater your chance of a truly successful life. In the act of creativity, being careful guarantees sameness and mediocrity, which means your work will be invisible. Better to be reckless than careful. Better to be bold than safe. Better to have your work seen and remembered, or you've struck out. There is no middle ground.

  George Lois

  Love You, Heart, Creativity

  67 Copy quote

• Nothing great can come of more than three people in a room.

  George Lois

  People, Rooms, Three

  36 Copy quote

• Working hard and doing doing great work is as imperative as breathing. Creating great work warms the heart and enriches the soul. Those of us lucky enough to spend our days doing something we love, something we're good at, are rich. If you do not work passionately (even furiously) at being the best in the world at what you do, you fail your talent, your destiny, and your god.

  George Lois

  Heart, Destiny, Breathing

  57 Copy quote

• Only with absolute fearlessness can we slay the dragons of mediocrity that invade our gardens.

  George Lois

  Fear, Business, Garden

  50 Copy quote

• A cautious creative is an oxymoron.

  George Lois

  Creative, Oxymoron, Cautious

  "Author Q&A with George Lois: Damn Good Advice". Interview with Steve Kroeter, www.designersandbooks.com. May 3, 2012.

  31 Copy quote

• The joy of the creative process, minute by minute, hour after hour, day by day, is the sublime path to true happiness.

  George Lois

  Creative, Joy, After Hours

  34 Copy quote

• Most people work at keeping their job, rather than doing a good job. If you're the former, you're leading a meaningless life. If you're the latter, keep up the good work.

  George Lois

  Jobs, People, Good Job

  43 Copy quote

• Only mediocre ideas can be tested.

  George Lois

  Ideas, Mediocre, Tested

  6 Copy quote

• Advertising, an art, is constantly besieged and compromised by logicians and technocrats, the scientists of our profession who wildly miss the main point about everything we do.

  George Lois

  Art, Missing, Advertising

  37 Copy quote

• In any creative industry, the fact that others are moving in a certain direction is always proof positive, at least to me, that a new direction is the only direction.

  George Lois

  Moving, Creative, Facts

  "10 Tips For Success From George Lois, The Original Mad Man" by Belinda Lanks, www.fastcodesign.com. August 24, 2012.

  42 Copy quote

• Never, ever, work for bad people

  George Lois

  People, Bad People

  21 Copy quote

• If you think people are dumb, you'll spend a lifetime doing dumb work.

  George Lois

  Thinking, People, Dumb

  17 Copy quote

• Follow your bliss. That which you love you must spend your life doing, as passionately and as perfectly as your heart, mind and instincts allow.

  George Lois

  Love You, Heart, Mind

  24 Copy quote

• Onwards and upwards, and never give your failures a second thought.

  George Lois

  Giving, Second Thoughts

  17 Copy quote

• If a man does not work passionately - even furiously - at being the best in the world at what he does, he fails his talent, his destiny, and his God.

  George Lois

  Ambition, Destiny, Men

  22 Copy quote

• The accurate measure of a human being is what he or she actually gets done.

  George Lois

  Done, Accurate, Humans

  18 Copy quote

• I am in the poison gas business. Advertising should make you choke, make your eyes water, make you feel sick.

  George Lois

  Eye, Sick, Water

  26 Copy quote

• The business world worships mediocrity. Officially we revere free enterprise, initiative and individuality. Unofficially we fear it.

  George Lois

  Business, Cynical, Individuality

  14 Copy quote

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