William McDonough

“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.”

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

“We are all born artists... Almost everything kids do is art.”

“I see that idea that we need a new form as something critical. I mean, we do need to invent and not be benchmarking all the time. That's important to me.”

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

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

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

“Not everything needs to be recycled.”

“I am very focused on large-scale deployments of renewable power and how we're going to get this done. Imagine our military bases covered with solar thermal collectors that could generate steam and electricity.”

“Art is about going a little nuts... Kids do art for fun. It's playing.”

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

“I suggest we take our heads out of the tar sands and look up to see the sun. We don't own it, but it provides us all with great, endless value. So, too, the wind. These free, renewable sources of 'energy currency' are perfect partners to what we own together.”

“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.”

“If you continue to act like an artist as you get older, you'll increasingly feel pressure. People will question your actions.”