Quotes About Utility

There is much to be said for modern appliances in the kitchen, but there are times when we revert to primitive tools simply because they do the job so much better.

You don't compete against products and services in your category: you compete against anything that gets the job done from the user's point of view.

Ockham's disposable razors

The intuitive principle here is that we cannot be justified in owning what we do not need to use or plan to use. One does not earn money simply to store it away where it will be protected from all possible future use.

The question of common sense is always what is it good for? — a question which would abolish the rose and be answered triumphantly by the cabbage.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value.

How did society ever function without you, little Sharpies? Your nibs have the precise amount of give to create a line quality with character, yet not so much character as to be smushy. Thank you, little pens.

Nadamos en pleno utilitarismo teleológico: hay verdades que son indeseables porque no son rentables, y hay mentiras que son necesarias.

The instruction manual for my Motorola phone is bigger and heavier than the phone.

I don't need my phone to play me music. I need it to be a phone and an e-mail thing.

I pretty much just use my smartphone for phone calls.

You can't get a phone any more that just makes phone calls. And that's all I want to use it for.

I want to make each piece of clothing work 15 different ways.

Learn to invest in the best quality you can afford and wear pieces in different ways.

I don't carry a wallet. I keep my cards in my pocket and cash in my boots.

If one limits to developing only the kitchen and bathroom as standardized rooms because of their installation, and then also decides to arrange the remaining living area with movable walls, I believe that any justified living requirements can be met.

Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.

We want to build technology that everybody loves using, and that affects everyone. We want to create beautiful, intuitive services and technologies that are so incredibly useful that people use them twice a day. Like they use a toothbrush. There aren't that many things people use twice a day.

A chair is the first thing you need when you don't really need anything, and is therefore a peculiarly compelling symbol of civilization. For it is civilization, not survival, that requires design.

If your trashcan or wheelbarrow has dent in it, you don't buy a new one. Maybe that's because we don't use trashcans and wheelbarrows to communicate our social status or identity to others.

to recognize that automobiles are there to get you from point A to point B. They are utilitarian devices, not expressions of social status.

I don't buy cars I can't drive.

Whether it's a canvas tote or Givenchy, a day bag you love is essential. It doesn't have to be a fashion It bag of the season, either.

I don't carry little purses. I carry big duffels, always.