--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When you're doing something for the first…" description: "\"When you're doing something for the first time, you don't know it's going to work. You spend seven or eight years working on something, and then it's c..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/844/jonathan-ive-3015_copied_when-you-re-doing-something-for-the-firs_3219434.jpg" --- # When you're doing something for the first time, you don't… ![“When you're doing something for the first time, you don't know it's going to work. You spend seven or eight years working on something, and then it's copied. I have to be honest: the first thing I can think, all those weekends that I could have at home with my family but didn't. I think it's…” quote by Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/844/jonathan-ive-3015_copied_when-you-re-doing-something-for-the-firs_3219434.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/844/jonathan-ive-3015_copied_when-you-re-doing-something-for-the-firs_3219434.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/844/jonathan-ive-3015_copied_when-you-re-doing-something-for-the-firs_3219434.jpg) > “When you're doing something for the first time, you don't know it's going to work. You spend seven or eight years working on something, and then it's copied. I have to be honest: the first thing I can think, all those weekends that I could have at home with my family but didn't. I think it's theft, and it's lazy.” [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Innovators often sacrifice personal time, leading to feelings of guilt and accusations of theft when ideas are later replicated. **In simple terms:** He feels guilty for neglecting family while working, calling it theft. Key Takeaway Balance work dedication with personal life. Themes innovation guilt work-life balance intellectual property creativity Mood reflective critical concerned Type professional ethical When to use this quote - product development - family time - career planning - ethical reflection Key Concepts design ethics personal sacrifice industry competition Questions to Reflect On - How can creators protect their ideas without compromising family? - What structures support healthier work habits? A Different Perspective Guilt may not fully address systemic pressures in tech. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Copied](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/copied/) [Family](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/family/) [First time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/first-time/) [Home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/home/) [Theft Lazy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theft-lazy-6046380/) [Think Theft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think-theft-6046381/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Weekends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/weekends/) [Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work/) [Working Copied](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/working-copied-6046379/) [Years Working](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years-working/) ## Related quotes > [Eight years of work can be copied in six months. It wasn't inevitable that it was going to work. A stolen design is stolen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ive/eight-years-of-work-can-be-copied-in-six-months-it-wasn-t-inevitable/) [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) > [I spent five years working very hard to develop a relationship with the veterans' service organizations. We have together worked some major projects.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-shinseki/i-spent-five-years-working-very-hard-to-develop-a-relationship-with/) [Eric Shinseki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-shinseki/) > [I've got to say that when you're able to work with people like this, whether it's Gareth or Guillermo or Zack Snyder or Chris…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-tull/i-ve-got-to-say-that-when-you-re-able-to-work-with-people-like-this/) [Thomas Tull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-tull/) > [I think for every player it's different. Most guys play for as long as they can until they're sort of pushed out the door.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-luck/i-think-for-every-player-it-s-different-most-guys-play-for-as-long-as/) [Oliver Luck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-luck/) > [I spent almost eight years working for the Obama administration, in the White House as the deputy press secretary, deputy communications director, communications director,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jen-psaki/i-spent-almost-eight-years-working-for-the-obama-administration-in/) [Jen Psaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jen-psaki/) > [For 10 years, I'd been working as a freelance writer and editor, making money but not a living. 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I'm proud to have done both jobs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-benn/i-spent-20-years-working-for-the-trade-union-movement-before-becoming/) [Hilary Benn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-benn/) > [There are actors who spend 20 years working and still don't achieve what I've achieved so quickly. So I think my only course of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zhang-ziyi/there-are-actors-who-spend-20-years-working-and-still-don-t-achieve/) [Zhang Ziyi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zhang-ziyi/) > [I had spent the prior eight years working at my firm primarily representing big chemical companies, helping them comply with all the different state…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bilott/i-had-spent-the-prior-eight-years-working-at-my-firm-primarily/) [Robert Bilott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bilott/) > [I don't know where I will be in 5 weeks let alone five years. But if I am still working in politics, I hope…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-huckabee-sanders/i-don-t-know-where-i-will-be-in-5-weeks-let-alone-five-years-but-if-i/) [Sarah Huckabee Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-huckabee-sanders/) > [During the last 17 years... I have been working at the restoration of a once exhausted hillside. Its scars are now healed over, though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/during-the-last-17-years-i-have-been-working-at-the-restoration-of-a/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) ## More by Jonathan Ive > [My father was a very good craftsman. He made furniture, he made silverware and he had an incredible gift in terms of how you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ive/my-father-was-a-very-good-craftsman-he-made-furniture-he-made/) [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) > [The more I learnt about this cheeky - almost rebellious - company, the more it appealed to me, as it unapologetically pointed to an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ive/the-more-i-learnt-about-this-cheeky-almost-rebellious-company-the/) [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) > [To design something really new and innovative you have to reject reason.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ive/to-design-something-really-new-and-innovative-you-have-to-reject/) [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) > [The most important thing is that you actually care, that you do something to the very best of your ability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ive/the-most-important-thing-is-that-you-actually-care-that-you-do/) [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) > [We’re surrounded by anonymous, poorly made objects. 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That's not simple.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ive/the-absence-of-clutter-is-just-a-clutter-free-product-that-s-not/) [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) > [In our quest to quickly make three-dimensional objects, we can miss out on the experience of making something that helps give us our first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ive/in-our-quest-to-quickly-make-three-dimensional-objects-we-can-miss/) [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) > [A beautiful product that doesn't work very well is ugly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ive/a-beautiful-product-that-doesn-t-work-very-well-is-ugly/) [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) > [We don't do focus groups - that is the job of the designer. It's unfair to ask people who don't have a sense of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ive/we-don-t-do-focus-groups-that-is-the-job-of-the-designer-it-s-unfair/) [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) > [I am very aware that I'm the product of growing up in England and the tradition of designing and making, of England industrialising first.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ive/i-am-very-aware-that-i-m-the-product-of-growing-up-in-england-and-the/) [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) > [It's a very strange thing for a designer to say, but one of the things that really irritates me in products is when I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ive/it-s-a-very-strange-thing-for-a-designer-to-say-but-one-of-the-things/) [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) > [We won't do something different for different's sake. Designers cave in to marketing, to the corporate agenda, which is sort of, 'Oh, it looks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ive/we-won-t-do-something-different-for-different-s-sake-designers-cave/) [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) > [As a kid, I remember taking apart whatever I could get my hands on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ive/as-a-kid-i-remember-taking-apart-whatever-i-could-get-my-hands-on/) [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) > [I find that when I write, I need things to be quiet, but when I design, I can't bear it if it's quiet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-ive/i-find-that-when-i-write-i-need-things-to-be-quiet-but-when-i-design/) [Jonathan Ive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) [Explore all 142 Jonathan Ive quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-ive/) ## More Copied quotes > [If you listen to Drake's first single... he copied my whole bar word for word and my cadence and my flow from my song.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soulja-boy/if-you-listen-to-drake-s-first-single-he-copied-my-whole-bar-word-for/) [Soulja Boy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soulja-boy/) > [The awkward moment when wikipedia has copied your homework.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-awkward-moment-when-wikipedia-has-copied-your-homework/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Couture has copied my things for years, in addition to countless other costume designers, claiming theirs were the original ideas. It's all part of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-head/couture-has-copied-my-things-for-years-in-addition-to-countless-other/) [Edith Head](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-head/) > [The power of a text is different when it is read from when it is copied out. Only the copied text thus commands the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-power-of-a-text-is-different-when-it-is-read-from-when-it-is/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [I have an amazing social-media wing man who manages my Facebook fan site. All my blogs get copied there. My e-mail in-box exploded, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-mraz/i-have-an-amazing-social-media-wing-man-who-manages-my-facebook-fan/) [Jason Mraz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-mraz/) > [Margaret Thatcher had more impact on the world than any woman ruler since Catherine the Great of Russia. Not only did she turn around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-johnson/margaret-thatcher-had-more-impact-on-the-world-than-any-woman-ruler/) [Paul Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-johnson/) > [I can jump on to a kitchen worktop from standing, like Tigger. It was something my dad could do, and I copied it from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-riley/i-can-jump-on-to-a-kitchen-worktop-from-standing-like-tigger-it-was/) [Tom Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-riley/) > [Good poetry could not have been otherwise written than it is. The first time you hear it, it sounds rather as if copied out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/good-poetry-could-not-have-been-otherwise-written-than-it-is-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“It would not be easy, indeed, to catch their expression, but their colour and shape, and the eyelashes, so remarkably fine, might be copied.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/it-would-not-be-easy-indeed-to-catch-their-expression-but-their/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [Victorian architecture in the United States was copied straight from England.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-gardiner/victorian-architecture-in-the-united-states-was-copied-straight-from/) [Stephen Gardiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-gardiner/) > [In my early days, I copied the great French chefs, like most chefs do. Copying is not bad. 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