Mark Frauenfelder Quotes

Powerful Mark Frauenfelder for Daily Growth

About Mark Frauenfelder

Mark Frauenfelder, born on August 19, 1961, in San Francisco, California, is an American writer, artist, inventor, publisher, musician, and the co-founder of Boing Boing, a renowned blog and online community that focuses on culture, science, technology, and design. Frauenfelder's fascination with art, technology, and DIY culture was nurtured at an early age. He attended San Francisco State University, where he studied art and graphic design. After graduation, he worked as a designer for various companies before co-founding the iconic tech magazine Wired in 1993. In 1994, Frauenfelder left Wired to found Cool Tools, an online store and blog that reviews and recommends tools of all kinds. In 2000, he co-founded Boing Boing with Carla Sinclair, Xeni Jardin, David Pescovitz, and Bryan Welch. The blog quickly gained a large following due to its eclectic mix of content, humor, and insights into contemporary culture. Frauenfelder's first book, "Making: Projects and Goals for Makers – Hardest Easy Thing," was published in 2014. The book offers practical advice on how to make, tinker, and invent, reflecting Frauenfelder's lifelong passion for DIY culture. Throughout his career, Frauenfelder has been recognized for his contributions to technology, design, and culture. He was named one of the 50 Most Influential People in American subculture by GQ Magazine and has received numerous awards for his work. Despite these accolades, Frauenfelder remains humble, often crediting his success to his curiosity and love for creating things. Today, Mark Frauenfelder continues to create, innovate, and inspire through his writing, art, music, and various projects. His work serves as a testament to the power of curiosity, creativity, and the relentless pursuit of knowledge.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Creativity is just connecting things."

Mark Frauenfelder's quote, "Creativity is just connecting things," emphasizes the idea that creativity stems from our ability to make unique connections between seemingly unrelated ideas or concepts. It suggests that creative insights often arise from combining diverse knowledge, experiences, and perspectives in fresh and innovative ways. This perspective encourages us to view creativity not only as a solitary process but also as one that benefits greatly from exposure to a wide range of information and interactions.


"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

This quote by Mark Frauenfelder emphasizes the power of taking action, starting with small, necessary steps and gradually expanding to more ambitious goals. By consistently pushing beyond our perceived limitations and attempting what was previously considered impossible, we can unlock our full potential and achieve great things. The key lies in breaking down large tasks into manageable parts and persistently working on them, allowing the seemingly impossible to become achievable.


"Innovation usually involves breaking a few rules or making new ones."

This quote by Mark Frauenfelder signifies that innovation often requires challenging the status quo, defying traditional norms, or establishing fresh guidelines to bring about change and advancement. In essence, it underscores that true progress frequently stems from non-conformity and the willingness to take risks in redefining how things are done.


"The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridges to cross and which bridges to burn."

This quote by Mark Frauenfelder highlights the importance of discernment, especially when faced with difficult decisions or conflicts. It suggests that not all situations require action and sometimes it's wiser to avoid engaging than to get involved, potentially causing harm to oneself or others. The "bridges to cross" refer to opportunities or relationships worth pursuing, while the "bridges to burn" symbolize those that should be left behind without a second thought. This metaphor encourages us to carefully evaluate our actions and consider their potential consequences before taking steps forward in life.


"Success is usually the culmination of controlling what we can control and sagely ignoring the rest."

This quote by Mark Frauenfelder emphasizes the importance of focusing on controllable factors for achieving success, while wisely letting go of uncontrollable circumstances. It suggests that to be successful, one should have a clear understanding of what they can control in their life or situation, and direct their efforts towards those areas, rather than wasting energy on things beyond their control. This perspective encourages individuals to maintain a strategic focus, resilience, and adaptability in pursuit of their goals.


My problem with mechanical pencils is that I break the lead tips constantly.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Problem, Break, Pencils, Tips

In this beginner-friendly book, called 'Learn to Program with Minecraft,' you will learn how to do cool things in Minecraft using the Python programming language. No prior programming experience is needed.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Learn, Using, Python, Programming Language

I can't imagine how much time it took Matt Bucy to cut up 'The Wizard of Oz' and reassemble every word of dialog into alphabetical order. The resulting movie is called 'Of Oz the Wizard.'

- Mark Frauenfelder

Movie, Cut, How Much Time, Wizard Of Oz

When you give a homemade gift, you are giving a part of yourself to the recipient. You can't do that with a mass-produced item.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Gift, Give, Item, Homemade

In school, we learn that mistakes translate into bad grades. This unfortunate lesson gets burned into our brains, and we go through life shunning challenges that might end in failure.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Bad, Through, Unfortunate, Burned

John Edgar Park introduced me to the gentle art of recreational lock-picking. It's fun and potentially useful to know how to tickle tumblers in the right way to open door locks and padlocks.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Door, How, Recreational, Locks

The Cat Dancer is a 30-inch piece of wire with some little cardboard cylinders on the end. My cats go crazy for it. I stuck it on the wall with the adhesive mount, but I ended up taking it off so I could hold it and play directly with my cats.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Play, Some, Hold, Mount

The maker movement is about people who want to gain more control of the human design world that they interact with every day. Instead of accepting off-the-shelf solutions from institutions and corporations, makers would like to make, modify, and repair their own tools, clothing, food, toys, furniture, and other physical objects.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Every Day, Repair, Other, Accepting

When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was George Gamow's 'One Two Three ... Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science.'

- Mark Frauenfelder

Kid, Two, Speculations, Infinity

We're trained in school to equate mistakes with bad grades - something to be avoided at all costs. The alpha makers were somehow able to dodge that. They think that mistakes are just part of the creative process and maybe even the best way to learn.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Bad, Best Way, Trained, Alpha

My idea of a traditional holiday - the right way to do it - goes back to the days when gift-giving meant sharing homemade things: hand-knit sweaters, carved wooden toys, smoked meats and the like.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Toys, Meant, Sweaters, Right Way

Ted Cruz is the Schroedinger's cat of politicians. He is both eligible and not eligible to be president.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Cat, Ted, Cruz, Eligible

Kids don't need to be taught the value of making; they are natural makers, at least until traditional education makes them afraid of making mistakes. The long-term value of making for kids is in learning to become an active participant in the world around them rather than a consumer of prepackaged products and solutions.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Education, Making Mistakes, Consumer

My friend Josh Glenn compiles terrific lists of genre novels from the mid-20th century. His latest is a list of the ten best adventure novels of 1966. Josh also includes the cover art of early editions of the books, which are always much better than the art on newer editions. I want to read every book in this list!

- Mark Frauenfelder

Book, Best, Cover, Novels

Cleaning cat litter is an unpleasant daily chore for me, but the DuraScoop makes it much less unpleasant.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Cleaning, Litter, Unpleasant, Chore

The human-made world is mostly beyond our comprehension. Our daily survival depends on seemingly magical gizmos that provide our food, water, clothing, comfort, transportation, education, well-being, and amusement.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Well-Being, Depends, Mostly, Transportation

Forrest Mims is the author of the famous book 'Getting Started in Electronics,' published by RadioShack for many years. I bought the book in the 1980s and had a blast making the projects in it. When I was editor-in-chief of 'MAKE,' I asked Forrest to write a column for the magazine, called 'The Backyard Scientist.'

- Mark Frauenfelder

Electronics, Projects, Blast

Fear of failure held me back from being a DIYer for many years, especially after a few early attempts at home improvement projects went awry.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Back, Projects, Held, Awry

Human beings evolved opposable thumbs for a reason. The sense of reward you get from making something with your hands can't be earned any other way. It's obvious that people learn faster from 'hands-on' experience than they do watching someone else do something.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Hands, Reason, Other, Any Other Way

Scott Adams is not only a world-famous cartoonist, he's also a world-class failure. And he's the first to admit it. In his new book, 'How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big,' the Dilbert creator explains how failure can lead to success if you develop the right skills to make the most of your mistakes.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Big, Almost Everything, Scott

As the editor-in-chief of the do-it-yourself magazine 'Make,' I've met scores of dedicated makers. They come from all walks of life - rich, poor, young, old, male, female, religious, atheist, liberal, conservative.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Religious, Dedicated, Scores, Do-It-Yourself

Windell Oskay is the co-founder of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, a Silicon Valley company that has designed and produced specialized electronics and robotics kits since 2007.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Electronics, Specialized, Designed

Here's one of my bad habits: when I go to someone's house, I head straight to their bookshelf.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Habits, Bad, Here, Bookshelf

I co-founded 'bOING bOING' magazine and the 'Boing Boing Blog' and was an editor at 'Wired' from 1993-1998.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Blog, Editor, Wired, Magazine

I wrote and illustrated a science experiment book called 'The Mad Professor'.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Mad, Professor, Experiment, Illustrated

I actually studied engineering in school - I have a degree in mechanical engineering. But, when I got out of school, instead of going to work as an engineer, I was in a band.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Work, Going, Studied, Engineering

Skillshare is a terrific online learning community for creative people. It teaches you new skills through well-made videos with great production values. I've been using Skillshare to teach myself Adobe After Effects. All the videos feature people who are professionals in their field. I love this site.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Love, Through, Been, Feature

My advice for raising daughters is to spend time with them doing things you both enjoy.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Advice, Doing, Raising, Daughters

Coming up with a way to fix mistakes challenges your creativity and your critical thinking skills and your resourcefulness. Often you end up with something better than what you planned on in the first place.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Challenges, Critical, Often, Fix

If you build your own chair, there is a lot of things that happen. You could probably buy a nice chair for less money than a chair that you built yourself, and it might even look better, but if you build that chair, you're going to take care of it and maintain it because it's your chair. If it breaks, you know how to fix it.

- Mark Frauenfelder

Own, Maintain, Less Money, Fix

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