William McDonough quotes

If we think about things having multiple lives, cradle to cradle, we could design things that can go back to either nature or back to industry forever. (William McDonough)

If you look at a tree and think of it as a design assignment, it would be like asking you to make something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, provides habitat for hundreds of species, accrues solar energy's fuel, makes complex sugars and food, changes colors with the seasons, creates microclimates, and self-replicates.

William McDonough

We achieved our mission to the moon. Let's look home from that lofty perch and reimagine our mission on Earth - that is what we need to do here. Together, we can upcycle everything. The world will be better for our positive visions and actions.

William McDonough

The Stone Age did not end because humans ran out of stones. It ended because it was time for a re-think about how we live.

William McDonough

I can't imagine something being beautiful at this point in history if it's destroying the planet or causing children to get sick.

William McDonough

Not everything needs to be recycled.

William McDonough

We get jealous not because we're evil, but because we have little artists pent up inside us.

William McDonough

The magic question is, 'What for?' But art is not for anything. Art is the ultimate goal.

William McDonough

I think the job of an original designer is to inspire.

William McDonough

Don't get me wrong: I love nuclear energy! It's just that I prefer fusion to fission. And it just so happens that there's an enormous fusion reactor safely banked a few million miles from us. It delivers more than we could ever use in just about 8 minutes. And it's wireless!

William McDonough

There's probably 5000 times more solar energy than the humans will ever need. (William McDonough)

Design is inherently optimistic. That is its power.

William McDonough

I can't imagine something being beautiful at this point in history if it's destroying the planet or causing children to get sick. How can anything be beautiful if it's not ecologically intelligent at this point?

William McDonough

William McDonough

William McDonough - Image

Photo: Lynn Brubaker, CC BY-SA 3.0

Occupation: American Designer
Born: February 20, 1951
Quotes count: 13
Wikipedia: William McDonough

Related authors

Buckminster Fuller 308

American Architect

Janine Benyus 16

American Writer

Amory Lovins 14

American Scientist

Bill Ford 14

American Businessman

Paul Hawken 35

American Environmentalist

Leonardo DiCaprio 124

American Actor

Ieyasu Tokugawa 10

Japanese Leader

Eric Avery 3

Masanobu Fukuoka 11

Japanese Farmer

Victor Papanek 3

Austrian Designer