“Ultimately a regulation is a signal of design failure...it is what we call a license to harm: a permit issued by a government to an industry so that it may dispense sickness, destruction, and death at an "acceptable" rate.” — William McDonough Copy Share Image
“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.… — William McDonough Copy Share Image
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… — William McDonough Copy Share Image
You don't filter smokestacks or water. Instead, you put the filter in your head and design the problem out of existence. — William McDonough Copy Share Image
You need that same creative force that exists in a building like Disney [Walt Disney Concert Hall] to actually tackle that most prosaic of… — William McDonough Copy Share Image
And to use something as elegant as a tree? Imagine this design assignment: Design something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water,… — William McDonough Copy Share Image
I'd so much rather have exciting architecture that causes one to stop, breathe, and reflect on the potential of the human mind, the craft,… — William McDonough Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
We are not a green standard, we are a quality standard. We're different, we're multi dimensional. — William McDonough Copy Share Image
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… — William McDonough Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
The problem I have with carbon as a bad thing issue, is that people go out and say they want to be zero carbon.… — William McDonough Copy Share Image
![“You need that same creative force that exists in a building like Disney [Walt Disney Concert Hall] to actually tackle that most prosaic of problems.” quote by William McDonough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a98/william-mcdonough-10055_building_you-need-that-same-creative-force-that-e_157070.jpg)
