“The essence of a thing is invisible to the eye, U May said. Learn to perceive the essence of a thing. Eyes are more likely to hinder you in that regard. They distract us. We love to be dazzled.”

“We see in essence not with two eyes but with three: with the two eyes of the body and with the eye of the mind that is behind them.”

“As writers, we feel things deeper than other people, we hurt more, we love bigger, we cry harder and we smile wider. This is the essence, the fuel, to what we do.”

“Names and attributes must be accommodated to the essence of things, and not the essence to the names, since things come first and names afterwards.”

“the chase for more, and the need to be recognised through our achievements and belongings, can hinder us from the real things, like time with those we love, time doing things we love ourselves, and balance. It’s probably all about balance really, isn’t it?”

“Learning to design is, first of all, learning to see. Designers see more, and more precisely. This is a blessing and a curse — once we have learned to see design, both good and bad, we cannot un-see. The downside is that the more you learn to see, the more you lose your ‘common’ eye, the eye you design for. This can be frustrating for us designers when we work for a customer with a bad eye and strong opinions. But this is no justification for designer arrogance or eye-rolling. Part of our job is to make the invisible visible, to clearly express what we see, feel and do. You can‘t expect to sell what you can’t explain.”