Quotes from Ken Hakuta

Everyone underestimates the maturity of kids.

Speed is vital. You got to strike fast. Fads have short lives, and you got to get what you can - like the case of the Pet Rock.

Many young people don't vote because they feel unwelcome and irrelevant, and that's the system's fault... As much as MTV tries to get them to vote, politicians don't include young voters because young voters don't donate money.

Most people think the Shakers are in Pennsylvania. They tend to confuse them with the Amish.

Voting statistics for younger voters is pathetic.

There are conventions for people with serious, boring inventions, but fad inventors need help. You need someone to talk to. You just can't tell your friends you're going to invent a pet rock and mortgage your house to pay for it. It's embarrassing... risky mentally. Your friends think you're crazy.

Al Gore has a lot to do with the mainstream attention to global warming, but you can't call him a fad, even if he did dance the Macarena.

Shaker pieces were not to show off. One was not to waste energy to decorate.

The Japanese really like things very well planned out. I enjoy things as they come by.

In warm weather, people are sillier.

The product of stickers will be around for a long time, but how it gets to the consumer will change.

People came to my house in limos looking for WallWalkers, and they made emergency calls, breaking into our phone conversations trying to order them.

I know my life runs in cycles.

I don't need a big K Street office or a British secretary or a facade for my ego.

I want to be the Ann Landers for fad people.

Contrary to what most people believe, fads are made, not born.

I hope to become the Dear Abby of fads.

Fads are born to die.

Most people who have had big fads have turned out to be just like their products: one-shot deals.

I have always been fascinated by Shaker design and the culture of the Shakers.

I wouldn't finance a fad if I were a banker.

To me, all these things tell a story, and I find clothespin parts as interesting as 'collectors' furniture.' Good pieces of Shaker furniture are interesting, but only so much. It is the other things and the personal effects that let me feel the Shakers.

Good ideas are a dime a dozen. It's what you do with them that counts.

Nam June Paik's artworks are highly intellectual, cutting-edge, and sophisticated. But he was also witty, humorous, and self-deprecating.