Peter Morville Quotes & Sayings

Librarians are on the front lines of an invisible struggle over our information diet and, for better or worse, the scales are not tipping in their direction. — Peter Morville

Consider a turkey that is fed every day. Every single feeding will firm up the bird's belief that it is the general rule of life to be fed every day by friendly members of the human race "looking out for its best interests," as a politician would say. On the afternoon of the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, something unexpected will happen to the turkey. It will incur a revision of belief. — Peter Morville

Figure 1-3. The User Experience Honeycomb. Along — Peter Morville

We must go from boxes to arrows. Tomorrow belongs to those who connect. — Peter Morville

The design of good houses requires an understanding of both the construction materials and the behavior of real humans. — Peter Morville

What we find changes who we become. — Peter Morville

Note that the #1 Top Reviewer at Amazon (4550 book reviews) is Harriet Klausner, formerly an acquisitions librarian in Pennsylvania. This just goes to show that librarians were destined to rule the Web. — Peter Morville

One day the farmer's horse ran away. His neighbors cried "such bad luck" to which he replied "maybe." His horse returned the next day with three wild horses. His neighbors shouted "that's wonderful" and the old farmer replied "maybe." The next day his son rode one of the wild horses, fell off, and broke his leg. The neighbors called it a "terrible misfortune." The old man replied "maybe." The day after, the army came to the village to draft young men, but the son was spared thanks to his broken leg. The neighbors said the farmer was lucky how things turned out, and the old man answered "maybe. — Peter Morville

Time when learning how to learn (and unlearn) is central to success. Instead of hiding from change, let's embrace it. Each time we try something new, we get better at getting better. Experience builds competence and confidence, so we're ready for the big changes, like re-thinking what we do. — Peter Morville

Between perfect vision and total blindness lies all the truth we know. — Peter Morville

The journey transforms the destination. — Peter Morville

Each way of organizing has strengths and weaknesses. Taxonomy affords a view from the top, facets help us muddle through the middle, and tags build bridges at the bottom. — Peter Morville

Findability precedes usability. In the alphabet and on the Web. You can't use what you can't find. — Peter Morville

My ability to help my clients was limited by our narrow focus. This was partly my fault for defining myself as a specialist, but I eventually came to see that this problem of reductionism is endemic to our culture. — Peter Morville