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Top 30 William McDonough Quotes (2024 Update)

William McDonough Quote: “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.”

1. “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

William McDonough Quote: “Sustainability takes forever. And that’s the point.”

2. “Sustainability takes forever. And that’s the point.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “Waste equals food, whether it’s food for the earth, or for a closed industrial cycle. We manufacture products that go from cradle to grave. We want to manufacture them from cradle to cradle.”

3. “Waste equals food, whether it’s food for the earth, or for a closed industrial cycle. We manufacture products that go from cradle to grave. We want to manufacture them from cradle to cradle.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “How do we love all the children of all species for all time?”

4. “How do we love all the children of all species for all time?”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “To eliminate the concept of waste means to design things-products, packaging, and systems-from the very beginning on the understanding that waste does not exist.”

5. “To eliminate the concept of waste means to design things-products, packaging, and systems-from the very beginning on the understanding that waste does not exist.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “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.”

6. “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

William McDonough Quote: “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!”

7. “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

William McDonough Quote: “Honor commerce as the engine of change.”

8. “Honor commerce as the engine of change.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “You don’t filter smokestacks or water. Instead, you put the filter in your head and design the problem out of existence.”

9. “You don’t filter smokestacks or water. Instead, you put the filter in your head and design the problem out of existence.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “Our goal is a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy, and just world, with clean air, water, soil and power – economically, equitably, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed.”

10. “Our goal is a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy, and just world, with clean air, water, soil and power – economically, equitably, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “Here’s where redesign begins in earnest, where we stop trying to be less bad and we start figuring out how to be good.”

11. “Here’s where redesign begins in earnest, where we stop trying to be less bad and we start figuring out how to be good.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “The surest way to heal an eco-system is to connect it to more of itself.”

12. “The surest way to heal an eco-system is to connect it to more of itself.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “I think as designers we realize design is a signal of intention, but it also has to occur within a world and we have to understand that world in order to imbue our designs with inherent intelligence.”

13. “I think as designers we realize design is a signal of intention, but it also has to occur within a world and we have to understand that world in order to imbue our designs with inherent intelligence.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “Designing renders visible our hopes and dreams. It is the first signal of human intentions.”

14. “Designing renders visible our hopes and dreams. It is the first signal of human intentions.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “Consider this: all the ants on the planet, taken together, have a biomass greater than that of humans. Ants have been incredibly industrious for millions of years. Yet their productiveness nourishes plants, animals, and soil. Human industry has been in full swing for little over a century, yet it has brought about a decline in almost every ecosystem on the planet. Nature doesn’t have a design problem. People do.”

15. “Consider this: all the ants on the planet, taken together, have a biomass greater than that of humans. Ants have been incredibly industrious for millions of years. Yet their productiveness nourishes plants, animals, and soil. Human industry has been in full swing for little over a century, yet it has brought about a decline in almost every ecosystem on the planet. Nature doesn’t have a design problem. People do.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “The eco-effective future of industry is a world of abundance that celebrates the use and consumption of products and materials that are, in effect, nutritious – as safe, effective, and delightful as a cherry tree.”

16. “The eco-effective future of industry is a world of abundance that celebrates the use and consumption of products and materials that are, in effect, nutritious – as safe, effective, and delightful as a cherry tree.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “We celebrate the cherry tree not for its efficiency but for its effectiveness – and for its beauty. Its materials are in constant flow, and all those thousands of useless cherry blossoms look gorgeous. Then they fall to the ground and become soil again, so there’s no problem.”

17. “We celebrate the cherry tree not for its efficiency but for its effectiveness – and for its beauty. Its materials are in constant flow, and all those thousands of useless cherry blossoms look gorgeous. Then they fall to the ground and become soil again, so there’s no problem.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “If anybody here has trouble with the concept of design humility, reflect on this: It took us 5,000 years to put wheels on our luggage.”

18. “If anybody here has trouble with the concept of design humility, reflect on this: It took us 5,000 years to put wheels on our luggage.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “Richard Meier told me, ‘Young man, solar energy has nothing to do with architecture,’”

19. “Richard Meier told me, ‘Young man, solar energy has nothing to do with architecture,’”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “Design is inherently optimistic. That is its power.”

20. “Design is inherently optimistic. That is its power.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “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?”

21. “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 Quote: “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.”

22. “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

William McDonough Quote: “In planetary terms, we’re all downstream.”

23. “In planetary terms, we’re all downstream.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “Modern culture appears to have adopted a strategy of tragedy. If we come here and say, I didn’t intend to cause global warning, it’s not part of my plan, then we realize it’s part of our defacto plan because it’s the thing that’s happening because we have no other plan.”

24. “Modern culture appears to have adopted a strategy of tragedy. If we come here and say, I didn’t intend to cause global warning, it’s not part of my plan, then we realize it’s part of our defacto plan because it’s the thing that’s happening because we have no other plan.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “We are proposing buildings that, like trees, are net energy exporters, produce more energy than they consume, accrue and store solar energy, and purify their own waste, water and release it slowly in a purer form.”

25. “We are proposing buildings that, like trees, are net energy exporters, produce more energy than they consume, accrue and store solar energy, and purify their own waste, water and release it slowly in a purer form.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “Our concept of eco-effectiveness means working on the right things – on the right products and services and systems – instead of making the wrong things less bad. Once you are doing the right things, then doing them “right,” with the help of efficiency among other tools, makes perfect sense.”

26. “Our concept of eco-effectiveness means working on the right things – on the right products and services and systems – instead of making the wrong things less bad. Once you are doing the right things, then doing them “right,” with the help of efficiency among other tools, makes perfect sense.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “If you don’t have an end game of something delightful, you’re just moving chess pieces around.”

27. “If you don’t have an end game of something delightful, you’re just moving chess pieces around.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “As long as human beings are regarded as “bad”, zero is a good goal. But to be less bad is to accept things as they are, to believe that poorly designed, dishonorable, destructive systems are the best humans can do. This is the ultimate failure of the “be less bad” approach: a failure of the imagination. From our perspective, this is a depressing vision of our species’ roles in the world. What about an entirely different model? What would it mean to be 100 percent good?”

28. “As long as human beings are regarded as “bad”, zero is a good goal. But to be less bad is to accept things as they are, to believe that poorly designed, dishonorable, destructive systems are the best humans can do. This is the ultimate failure of the “be less bad” approach: a failure of the imagination. From our perspective, this is a depressing vision of our species’ roles in the world. What about an entirely different model? What would it mean to be 100 percent good?”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “Designers are inherently optimistic people who try to make the world a better place.”

29. “Designers are inherently optimistic people who try to make the world a better place.”

— William McDonough

William McDonough Quote: “Schumacher posited that people must make a serious shift in what they consider to be wealth and progress: “Ever-bigger machines, entailing ever-bigger concentrations of economic power and exerting ever-greater violence against the environment, do not represent progress: they are a denial of wisdom.”

30. “Schumacher posited that people must make a serious shift in what they consider to be wealth and progress: “Ever-bigger machines, entailing ever-bigger concentrations of economic power and exerting ever-greater violence against the environment, do not represent progress: they are a denial of wisdom.”

— William McDonough

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