--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Engineering, medicine, business…" description: "\"Engineering, medicine, business, architecture and painting are concerned not with the necessary but with the contingent - not with how things are but w..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dd4/herbert-simon-15495_architecture_engineering-medicine-business-architectu_15355.png" --- # Engineering, medicine, business, architecture and painting… ![“Engineering, medicine, business, architecture and painting are concerned not with the necessary but with the contingent - not with how things are but with how they might be - in short, with design.” quote by Herbert Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dd4/herbert-simon-15495_architecture_engineering-medicine-business-architectu_15355.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dd4/herbert-simon-15495_architecture_engineering-medicine-business-architectu_15355.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dd4/herbert-simon-15495_architecture_engineering-medicine-business-architectu_15355.png) > “Engineering, medicine, business, architecture and painting are concerned not with the necessary but with the contingent - not with how things are but with how they might be - in short, with design.” [Herbert Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-simon/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Design focuses on possibilities and choices rather than fixed necessities, shaping how things could be rather than how they are. **In simple terms:** Design explores alternatives over absolutes. Key Takeaway Design is about shaping potential. Themes creativity problem-solving future-thinking interdisciplinary innovation Mood inspired curious optimistic Type philosophical observational When to use this quote - product development - urban planning - software architecture - strategic business planning - artistic composition Key Concepts contingency possibility choice Practical Applications - generating novel solutions - guiding strategic decisions Questions to Reflect On - What constraints limit our design choices? - How can we balance necessity with possibility? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Architecture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/architecture/) [Business](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/business/) [Contingent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contingent/) [Design](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/design/) [Engineering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/engineering/) [Medicine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/medicine/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) ## Related quotes > [“As far as he was concerned, he had the three necessary ingredients to happiness: something to do, someone to love, and something to look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-thor/as-far-as-he-was-concerned-he-had-the-three-necessary-ingredients-to/) [Brad Thor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-thor/) > [Nothing in the universe is contingent, but all things are conditioned to exist and operate in a particular manner by the necessity of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baruch-spinoza/nothing-in-the-universe-is-contingent-but-all-things-are-conditioned/) [Baruch Spinoza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baruch-spinoza/) > [A significant idea of organization cannot be obtained in a world in which everything is necessary and nothing is contingent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norbert-wiener/a-significant-idea-of-organization-cannot-be-obtained-in-a-world-in/) [Norbert Wiener](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norbert-wiener/) > [“Happiness is good management of expectations and good management means making order and assembling the contingent elements of the "do's'" and the "don'ts", the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/happiness-is-good-management-of-expectations-and-good-management/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) > [There is a new venue for theory, necessarily impure, where it emerges in and as the very event of cultural translation. 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