101 Organization Quotes for Creatives
If you’ve ever stared at a messy desk, a cluttered calendar, or a chaotic creative process and thought, “I need a little inspiration to get my life together,” this post is for you. Whether you’re a designer, writer, entrepreneur, or maker, the right words can spark order in the middle of the creative storm.
These organization quotes remind us that structure doesn’t stifle creativity; instead, it gives it room to breathe. From timeless wisdom by artists and philosophers to modern insights from entrepreneurs and thinkers, this list gathers 101 quotes to help you refocus, reset, and realign.
So grab your favorite notebook (or open a fresh Notion page), and let these organization quotes for creatives motivate you to clear the clutter, calm your mind, and create from a place of clarity and flow.
Quotes About Organization & Order
“For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.” — Anonymous Sortly
“Organizing is a journey, not a destination.” — Anonymous Sortly
“Clutter is nothing more than postponed decisions.” — Barbara Hemphill Sortly
“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” — A. A. Milne simplyproductive.com+2The Order Expert® |+2
“Bottom line is, if you do not use it or need it, it’s clutter, and it needs to go.” — Charisse Ward Sortly
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” — William Morris simplyproductive.com+1
“Being organized isn’t about getting rid of everything you own or trying to become a different person. It’s about living the way you want to live, but better.” — Andrew Mellen simplyproductive.com
“Organizing isn’t about perfection; it’s about efficiency, reducing stress and clutter, saving time and money and improving your overall quality of life.” — Christina Scalise simplyproductive.com
“With organization comes empowerment.” — Lynda Peterson simplyproductive.com
“Organize yourself before you try to organize anything else.” — C. Jay simplyproductive.com
“Being organized is all about the ABC’s: Awareness and Action, Balance and Beliefs, Choices and consistency.” — Tanya Allason simplyproductive.com
“Organize, don’t agonize.” — Nancy P simplyproductive.com
“Organizing is a process; an organization is the result of that process.” — Elinor Ostrom simplyproductive.com
“Being organized is not about being company-ready 24/7. It’s about being able to find what you need and restore order quickly.” — Monika Kristofferson Debra Smouse+1
“You don’t have to be perfect to be organized.” — Monika Kristofferson simplyproductive.com
“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality.” — Napoleon Hill simplyproductive.com+1
“Chaos is found in greatest abundance wherever order is being sought. It always defeats order, because it is better organized.” — Terry Pratchett simplyproductive.com
“Clutter is not just the stuff on your floor — it's anything that stands between you and the life you want to be living.” — Peter Walsh Debra Smouse
“What I know for sure is that when you declutter — whether it’s on your home, your head, or your heart — it is astounding what will flow into that space that will enrich you, your life, and your family.” — Peter Walsh Debra Smouse
“Life is too short for you to be the caretaker of the wrong details.” — Alexandra Stoddard Debra Smouse
“Get rid of clutter and you may just find that it was blocking the door you’ve been looking for.” — Katrina Mayer Debra Smouse
“When something small is right you can then forget about it and think about more lofty ideas.” — Alexandra Stoddard Debra Smouse
“You can’t reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday’s junk.” — Louise Smith Debra Smouse+1
“When we clear the physical clutter from our lives, we literally make way for inspiration and ‘good, orderly direction’ to enter.” — Julia Cameron Debra Smouse
“Once you have a clear picture of your priorities — that is your values, goals and high-leverage activities — organize around them.” — Stephen Covey The Order Expert® |
“A good system shortens the road to the goal.” — Orison Swett Marden The Order Expert® |
“Good order is the foundation of all things.” — Edmund Burke The Order Expert® |
“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony.” — Albert Einstein Closet & Storage Concepts
“You can’t reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday’s junk.” — Louise Smith (duplicate in some sources) Closet & Storage Concepts
“Clutter is not just physical stuff. It’s old ideas, toxic relationships and bad habits. Clutter is anything that does not support your better self.” — Eleanor Brown Closet & Storage Concepts
“If you have no systems, you have to reinvent your housekeeping or debate what to do first every time you do it…” — Cheryl Mendelson Debra Smouse
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo da Vinci Happy Organized Life+1
“The best way to get something done is to begin.” — Unknown The Paper & Plan Co
“Organizing is what you do before you do something so that your efforts are not wasted.” — Richard Bach Happy Organized Life
“Organization is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.” — Unknown
Quotes About Creativity & Inspiration
“Creativity doesn’t wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones.” — Bruce Garrabrandt WeWork
“Everything you can imagine is real.” — Pablo Picasso WeWork
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something.” — Steve Jobs WeWork
“You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.” — Jack London WeWork
“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will.” — George Bernard Shaw WeWork
“If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.” — John Cleese WeWork
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou Workspace Digital+2WeWork+2
“An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” — Edwin Land WeWork
“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination.” — Albert Einstein WeWork+1
“Creative ideas flourish best in a shop which preserves some spirit of fun.” — Leo Burnett Workspace Digital
“Creating opportunities means looking where others are not.” — Mark Cuban Workspace Digital
“Listen to anyone with an original idea, no matter how absurd it may sound at first.” — William McKnight Workspace Digital
“Stress and worry… block creativity. Every problem has a solution.” — Susan L. Taylor Workspace Digital
“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.” — Erich Fromm Workspace Digital
“Great things are not done by impulse, but a series of small things brought together.” — Vincent Van Gogh Workspace Digital
“Creativity … consists largely of rearranging what we know in order to find out what we do not know.” — George Kneller Workspace Digital
“All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning.” — Albert Camus American University
“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” — Ken Robinson Cubicle Ninjas
“Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of man.” — John Steinbeck Cubicle Ninjas
“There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.” — R. Buckminster Fuller Cubicle Ninjas
“There’s a fine line between minimalism and not trying very hard.” — Tom Pappalardo Cubicle Ninjas
“You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right.” — Steve Jobs Goodreads
“To be creative means to be in love with life. … you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it.” — Osho Goodreads
“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” — Oscar Wilde Goodreads
“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” — Friedrich Nietzsche Goodreads
Quotes About Structure + Creative Flow
“The more I examine the issue of clutter, the more effort I put into combating it, because it really does act as a weight.” — Gretchen Rubin Debra Smouse
“All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.” — Earl Nightingale The Order Expert® |
“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but believe.” — Anatole France The Order Expert® |
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” — Arthur Ashe The Order Expert® |
“The obvious rule of efficiency is you don't want to spend more time organizing than it's worth.” — Daniel Levitin BrainyQuote
“First comes thought; then organization … then transformation … the beginning … is in your imagination.” — Variation on Napoleon Hill / adaptation BrainyQuote
“If you could get all the people in the organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry.” — Patrick Lencioni BrainyQuote
“An organization, no matter how well designed, is only as good as the people who live and work in it.” — Dee Hock BrainyQuote
“Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.” — Dolores Huerta BrainyQuote
“Architecture is basically the design of interiors, the art of organizing interior space.” — Philip Johnson BrainyQuote
“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design … good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible.” — Don Norman Real Thread
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” — Steve Jobs Real Thread
“Simplicity will stand out, while complexity will get lost in the crowd.” — Kevin Barnett Real Thread
“Make it simple, but significant.” — Don Draper (fictional) Real Thread
“Good design is good business.” — Thomas Watson Jr. Real Thread
“The more things you’re interested in, the better your work will be.” — Michael Beirut Real Thread
“Design is intelligence made visible.” — Alina Wheeler Real Thread
“Every great design begins with an even better story.” — Lorinda Mamo Real Thread
“Styles come and go. Good design is a language, not a style.” — Massimo Vignelli Real Thread
“The creative person is willing to live with ambiguity.” — Abe Tannenbaum WeWork
“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” — Sylvia Plath WeWork
“When learning is purposeful, creativity blossoms.” — A.P.J. Abdul Kalam WeWork
“There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all.” — Edward de Bono WeWork
“We are not creatures of circumstance; we are creators of circumstance.” — Benjamin Disraeli Creativity at Work
“There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” — Susan Cain Creativity at Work
“Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts.” — Rita Mae Brown Creativity at Work
“Business has only two basic functions — marketing and innovation.” — Peter Drucker Creativity at Work
“To be successful we must live from our imaginations, not from our memories.” — Stephen Covey Creativity at Work
“Innovation! One cannot be forever innovating. I want to create classics.” — Coco Chanel Creativity at Work
“We are not creatures of circumstance; we are creators of circumstance.” — (duplicate) Benjamin Disraeli
A Few Final Organization Quotes
“Indeed, organizing atheists has been compared to herding cats… cats tend to think independently…” — Richard Dawkins Goodreads
“I would like to see anyone, prophet, king or God, convince a thousand cats to do the same thing at the same time.” — Neil Gaiman Goodreads
“Once you have a clear picture of your priorities — … organize around them.” — variation (Stephen Covey adaptation) The Order Expert® |
“Organizing is what you do before you do something so that your efforts are not wasted.” — variation (Richard Bach) Happy Organized Life
“All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on…” — variation (Earl Nightingale) The Order Expert® |
“Get rid of clutter and you may just find that it was blocking the door you’ve been looking for.” — variation phrased differently (Katrina Mayer) Debra Smouse
“When learning is purposeful, creativity blossoms. When creativity blossoms, thinking emanates.” — extended (A.P.J. Abdul Kalam) WeWork
“Craft is what we are expected to know; art is the unexpected use of our craft.” — (creative leadership) Creativity at Work
“Whenever you have no blueprint… you must work artfully.” — Robert D. Austin & Lee Devin Creativity at Work
“I’ve learned people will forget what you said… but never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou Creativity at Work
“I am not afraid … I was born to do this.” — Joan of Arc
Organization isn’t about perfection… instead, it’s about presence. The best organization quotes remind us that systems, habits, and simplicity aren’t the enemies of creativity—they’re what make creativity sustainable. Whether you’re planning your next big project, cleaning your studio, or just trying to keep your digital life in order, these quotes can act as gentle anchors.
Return to them whenever you need a creative reset. And if one of these organization quotes resonates, write it on a sticky note, make it your screensaver, or turn it into a mantra for your next season of focus and flow.
