--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Designing is a lot like a high-wire act…" description: "\"Designing is a lot like a high-wire act - if the tightrope walker is only six inches off the ground, where's the excitement?\" — Douglas Wilson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/78c/douglas-wilson-2686_design_designing-is-a-lot-like-a-high-wire-act_1140915.png" --- # Designing is a lot like a high-wire act - if the tightrope… ![“Designing is a lot like a high-wire act - if the tightrope walker is only six inches off the ground, where's the excitement?” quote by Douglas Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/78c/douglas-wilson-2686_design_designing-is-a-lot-like-a-high-wire-act_1140915.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/78c/douglas-wilson-2686_design_designing-is-a-lot-like-a-high-wire-act_1140915.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/78c/douglas-wilson-2686_design_designing-is-a-lot-like-a-high-wire-act_1140915.png) > “Designing is a lot like a high-wire act - if the tightrope walker is only six inches off the ground, where's the excitement?” [Douglas Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-wilson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Designing feels like a precarious performance where risk creates thrill; without danger, the work feels dull. **In simple terms:** Design is exciting when it feels risky. Key Takeaway Embrace calculated risk to keep work lively. Themes creativity risk excitement Mood anxious energetic Type motivational philosophical When to use this quote - product development - creative projects - stage design - high‑stakes presentations Key Concepts design performance psychology Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance safety and excitement? - When does risk become reckless? A Different Perspective Too much safety can stifle innovation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Design](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/design/) [Excitement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/excitement/) [Tightrope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tightrope/) ## Related quotes > [When I was younger, I wanted to be a vet or a tightrope walker. 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A person would have to be an expert tightrope walker in order not to fall.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/augusten-burroughs/the-line-between-normal-and-crazy-seemed-impossibly-thin-a-person/) [Augusten Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/augusten-burroughs/) > [Any tightrope walker can walk in a straight line and hold a cane at the same time. It's the balancing on the rope at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cecelia-ahern/any-tightrope-walker-can-walk-in-a-straight-line-and-hold-a-cane-at/) [Cecelia Ahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cecelia-ahern/) > [If you had a friend who was a tightrope walker, and you were walking down a sidewalk, and he fell, that would be completely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-hedberg/if-you-had-a-friend-who-was-a-tightrope-walker-and-you-were-walking/) [Mitch Hedberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-hedberg/) > [How often does the tightrope walker balance when walking across the tightrope? All the time! It is the same thing if you really want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-tracy/how-often-does-the-tightrope-walker-balance-when-walking-across-the/) [Brian Tracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-tracy/) > [“A tightrope walker uncertain if he could make it to the other side probably would not. A race car driver wondering if he was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roy-l-pickering-jr/a-tightrope-walker-uncertain-if-he-could-make-it-to-the-other-side/) [Roy L. Pickering Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roy-l-pickering-jr/) > [A tightrope-walker tripping on a sidewalk is completely unacceptable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-tightrope-walker-tripping-on-a-sidewalk-is-completely-unacceptable/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“It was America, after all. The sort of place where you should be allowed to walk as high as you wanted. 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In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-pine/the-great-thing-about-theater-is-that-you-have-so-much-time-to/) [Chris Pine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-pine/) > [“On the high wire, she was beholden to no one, a creature without past or present, suspended between earth and sky.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-bardugo/on-the-high-wire-she-was-beholden-to-no-one-a-creature-without-past/) [Leigh Bardugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-bardugo/) > [You often feel like you are on a high wire with no net productions because you have to rely on spontaneity and come up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-cage/you-often-feel-like-you-are-on-a-high-wire-with-no-net-productions/) [Nicolas Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-cage/) > [Acting is like a high wire act. Your margin for error is very slim.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-baranski/acting-is-like-a-high-wire-act-your-margin-for-error-is-very-slim/) [Christine Baranski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-baranski/) > [I have been performing in the street for more than 50 years: magic for basically 60 years, and the high wire 45 years. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philippe-petit/i-have-been-performing-in-the-street-for-more-than-50-years-magic-for/) [Philippe Petit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philippe-petit/) ## More by Douglas Wilson > [“The ground for the necessity of Christian schools lies in this very thing, that no fact can be known unless it be known in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-wilson/the-ground-for-the-necessity-of-christian-schools-lies-in-this-very/) [Douglas Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-wilson/) > [Throughout the country, I see the same design problems and solutions over and over.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-wilson/throughout-the-country-i-see-the-same-design-problems-and-solutions/) [Douglas Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-wilson/) > [“You do not create ex nihilo. You rearrange and recombine. You are the same old flour and eggs in search of a new recipe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-wilson/you-do-not-create-ex-nihilo-you-rearrange-and-recombine-you-are-the/) [Douglas Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-wilson/) > [“Sensory experience should not be draped on top of the story as sort of a last-minute decoration. Done right, it is woven into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-wilson/sensory-experience-should-not-be-draped-on-top-of-the-story-as-sort/) [Douglas Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-wilson/) > [“When the travesties scattered throughout our modern art museums are set alongside the glories of ancient Greece, the Christian heart should swell with pride.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-wilson/when-the-travesties-scattered-throughout-our-modern-art-museums-are/) [Douglas Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-wilson/) > [Immodest and attractive is easy. Modest and repulsive is easy too. 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How…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-wilson/we-sometimes-do-not-appreciate-the-magnitude-of-the-problem-here-how/) [Douglas Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-wilson/) > [God picks us up where we are, not where we should have been](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-wilson/god-picks-us-up-where-we-are-not-where-we-should-have-been/) [Douglas Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-wilson/) > [“The fulfillment of the cultural mandate involves hard work, and men need to be hard in order to do the work.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-wilson/the-fulfillment-of-the-cultural-mandate-involves-hard-work-and-men/) [Douglas Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-wilson/) > [“There is no virtue or vice in a transitive verb, everything depends on the direct object. 'I LOVE' could be virtuous or not -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-wilson/there-is-no-virtue-or-vice-in-a-transitive-verb-everything-depends-on/) [Douglas Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-wilson/) > [“We are like fruitflies, measuring everything in terms of our own lifespan. But since our lifespans are so short, our perspective is entirely wrong.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-wilson/we-are-like-fruitflies-measuring-everything-in-terms-of-our-own/) [Douglas Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-wilson/) [Explore all 154 Douglas Wilson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-wilson/) ## More Design quotes > [That's the great secret of creativity. 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Then you will be assured of a product fit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giambattista-bodoni/plenty-of-white-space-and-generous-line-spacing-and-don-t-make-the/) Giambattista Bodoni > [Designers shouldn’t design for museums any more than mummies should die for them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-caplan/designers-shouldn-t-design-for-museums-any-more-than-mummies-should/) [Ralph Caplan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-caplan/) > [The market may never coalesce around one basic design, or even around two or three dominant devices.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-peters/the-market-may-never-coalesce-around-one-basic-design-or-even-around/) [Tom Peters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-peters/) > [The display is the computer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jen-hsun-huang/the-display-is-the-computer/) Jen-Hsun Huang > [Design is not making beauty, beauty emerges from selection, affinities, integration, love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-kahn/design-is-not-making-beauty-beauty-emerges-from-selection-affinities/) [Louis Kahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-kahn/) > [The beauty of New York is unintentional; it arose independent of human design, like a stalagmite cavern.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/the-beauty-of-new-york-is-unintentional-it-arose-independent-of-human/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [Like many other scientists who hold the Catholic faith, I see the Creator's plan and purpose fulfilled in our universe. I see a planet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-r-miller/like-many-other-scientists-who-hold-the-catholic-faith-i-see-the/) [Kenneth R. Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-r-miller/) > [I design some of my own clothes now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiernan-shipka/i-design-some-of-my-own-clothes-now/) [Kiernan Shipka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiernan-shipka/) > [Programmers are always surrounded by complexity; we cannot avoid it… If our basic tool, the language in which we design and code our programs,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-hoare/programmers-are-always-surrounded-by-complexity-we-cannot-avoid-it-if/) [Tony Hoare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-hoare/) > [Design is a very personal thing. It's like art. Your personal choice plays a big role.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gauri-khan/design-is-a-very-personal-thing-it-s-like-art-your-personal-choice/) [Gauri Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gauri-khan/) > [“Designing posters, for me, is not only a commercial pursuit but also a philosophical endeavor.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fang-chen/designing-posters-for-me-is-not-only-a-commercial-pursuit-but-also-a/) Fang Chen > [I am not a great believer in dialectical struggle. I am much more of a fusion person. I see it as a dialogue, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marina-warner/i-am-not-a-great-believer-in-dialectical-struggle-i-am-much-more-of-a/) [Marina Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marina-warner/) > [Users are not designers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jakob-nielsen/users-are-not-designers/) [Jakob Nielsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jakob-nielsen/) > [I write the way you might arrange flowers. Not every try works, but each one launches another. 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