--- title: "9 Data Quotes By David Mccandless" description: "9 Data quotes by David Mccandless. Plus more from David Mccandless and more Data sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/acd/david-mccandless-19293_data_data-is-the-new-oil-no-data-is-the-new-s_1845507.jpg" --- > [Data is the new oil? No: Data is the new soil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/data-is-the-new-oil-no-data-is-the-new-soil/) [David Mccandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/acd/david-mccandless-19293_data_data-is-the-new-oil-no-data-is-the-new-s_1845507.jpg) > [Visualizing information is a form of knowledge compression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/visualizing-information-is-a-form-of-knowledge-compression/) [David Mccandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/079/david-mccandless-19293_compression_visualizing-information-is-a-form-of-kno_546742.jpg) > [Data is the kind of ubiquitous resource that we can shape to provide new innovations and new insights, and it's all around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/data-is-the-kind-of-ubiquitous-resource-that-we-can-shape-to-provide/) [David McCandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3aa/david-mccandless-19293_around_data-is-the-kind-of-ubiquitous-resource_1820271.jpg) > [What I love - and I'm a journalist - and what I love is finding hidden patterns; I love being a data…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/what-i-love-and-i-m-a-journalist-and-what-i-love-is-finding-hidden/) [David McCandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da9/david-mccandless-19293_being_what-i-love-and-i-m-a-journalist-and-wha_2193545.jpg) > [Sometimes the data has a sense of a structure within it, especially if I'm looking at networks or relationships, which generally lend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/sometimes-the-data-has-a-sense-of-a-structure-within-it-especially-if/) [David Mccandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9be/david-mccandless-19293_data_sometimes-the-data-has-a-sense-of-a-stru_1285732.jpg) > [I love information. I want to stay current. I don't want to be under-informed. But I'm busy. Sometimes, I need an instant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/i-love-information-i-want-to-stay-current-i-don-t-want-to-be-under/) [David McCandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b63/david-mccandless-19293_busy_i-love-information-i-want-to-stay-curren_485627.jpg) > [By visualizing information, we turn it into a landscape that you can explore with your eyes: a sort of information map. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/by-visualizing-information-we-turn-it-into-a-landscape-that-you-can/) [David McCandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fa/david-mccandless-19293_data_by-visualizing-information-we-turn-it-in_939204.jpg) > [Data is the new soil, because for me, it feels like a fertile, creative medium. Over the years, online, we've laid down…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/data-is-the-new-soil-because-for-me-it-feels-like-a-fertile-creative/) [David Mccandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/02f/david-mccandless-19293_amount_data-is-the-new-soil-because-for-me-it-f_2468466.jpg) > [Over the years, online, we've laid down a huge amount of information and data, and we irrigate it with networks and connectivity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/over-the-years-online-we-ve-laid-down-a-huge-amount-of-information/) [David McCandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb7/david-mccandless-19293_amount_over-the-years-online-we-ve-laid-down-a_728759.jpg) ## Other authors on Data - [Kate Crawford 22 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/kate-crawford/) - [Hilary Mason 19 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/hilary-mason/) - [Brittany Kaiser 15 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/brittany-kaiser/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-terence-mckenna-89395.jpg) Terence McKenna 14 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/terence-mckenna/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-yuval-noah-harari-100.jpg) Yuval Noah Harari 13 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/yuval-noah-harari/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-bill-gates-17911.jpg) Bill Gates 13 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/bill-gates/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b013/author-john-battelle-50977.jpg) John Battelle 12 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/john-battelle/) - [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz 11 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b008/author-douglas-rushkoff-30484.jpg) Douglas Rushkoff 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/douglas-rushkoff/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b022/author-seth-godin-84128.jpg) Seth Godin 10 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/seth-godin/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-nate-silver-70396.jpg) Nate Silver 10 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/nate-silver/) - [Mark Twain 10 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/mark-twain/) ## More by David Mccandless > [Simplification seems to be the removal of objects for the goal of making a graphic as clean and uncluttered as possible. Whereas, with optimization,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/simplification-seems-to-be-the-removal-of-objects-for-the-goal-of/) [David Mccandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) > [I have a computational quality to my mind, I suppose. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with video games. I reprogrammed games,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/i-have-a-computational-quality-to-my-mind-i-suppose-when-i-was-a-kid/) [David Mccandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) > [I started moving into online work, and that exposed me to design and the impact it has on the flow, shape, and narrative of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/i-started-moving-into-online-work-and-that-exposed-me-to-design-and/) [David Mccandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) > [Personally, I find visualisations great for helping me understand the world and for sifting the huge amounts of information that deluge me every day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/personally-i-find-visualisations-great-for-helping-me-understand-the/) [David McCandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) > [For years I thought I was just a writer, but when I sat down to design and started playing around with it, I realized…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/for-years-i-thought-i-was-just-a-writer-but-when-i-sat-down-to-design/) [David Mccandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) > [I love information. I want to stay current. I don't want to be under-informed. But I'm busy. Sometimes, I need an instant overview of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/i-love-information-i-want-to-stay-current-i-don-t-want-to-be-under/) [David McCandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) > [Information design has been around since the 1970s. Pioneers like Yale University design guru Edward Tufte and design agency Pentagram have long known and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/information-design-has-been-around-since-the-1970s-pioneers-like-yale/) [David McCandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) > [Visualizing information is a form of knowledge compression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/visualizing-information-is-a-form-of-knowledge-compression/) [David Mccandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) > [I'm doing a lot of cognitive processing. I'm gathering research. I'm processing it. I'm arranging the data. I'm sorting out the narrative. I'm designing.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/i-m-doing-a-lot-of-cognitive-processing-i-m-gathering-research-i-m/) [David Mccandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) > [Some of the commercial work I do is helping people to improve their presentations and add some design thinking. There are so many amazing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/some-of-the-commercial-work-i-do-is-helping-people-to-improve-their/) [David Mccandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) > [Over the years, online, we've laid down a huge amount of information and data, and we irrigate it with networks and connectivity, and it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/over-the-years-online-we-ve-laid-down-a-huge-amount-of-information/) [David McCandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) > [I've been working on a graphic about carbon emissions. It's an incredibly simple graphic - a bunch of blocks and a table below it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/i-ve-been-working-on-a-graphic-about-carbon-emissions-it-s-an/) [David Mccandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) > [I remember researching a really complicated article and having trouble keeping track of all the different perspectives. I ended up drawing a diagram to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/i-remember-researching-a-really-complicated-article-and-having/) [David Mccandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) > [The classic one for me is one of my favorite images - left-versus-right political-spectrum image. I was trying to visualize the concepts on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/the-classic-one-for-me-is-one-of-my-favorite-images-left-versus-right/) [David Mccandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) > [By visualizing information, we turn it into a landscape that you can explore with your eyes: a sort of information map. And when you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccandless/by-visualizing-information-we-turn-it-into-a-landscape-that-you-can/) [David McCandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccandless/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/david-mccandless/#itemlist", "name": "9 Data Quotes By David Mccandless", "numberOfItems": 9, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Data is the new oil? 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