Who really said it

Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else

Q: Did Leonardo da Vinci say "Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else"?

No. This is a modern management aphorism by Tom Peters, co-author of In Search of Excellence. Wikiquote's sourced section traces it to his syndicated column "The Best Corporate Strategy? None, Of Course," in the Chicago Tribune, 11 July 1994. Its vocabulary — competitors who "quickly copy" a hit — belongs to late-20th-century business, not to a 15th-century Florentine. Da Vinci never wrote it.

Not Leonardo da Vinci — actually Tom Peters Tom Peters b. 1942 · American management writer

Disputed In copyright

This is a modern management aphorism by Tom Peters, co-author of In Search of Excellence. Wikiquote’s sourced section traces it to his syndicated column “The Best Corporate Strategy? None, Of Course,” in the Chicago Tribune, 11 July 1994 ↗. Its vocabulary — competitors who “quickly copy” a hit — belongs to late-20th-century business, not to a 15th-century Florentine. Da Vinci never wrote it.

Last verified 14 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else” Tom Peters, "The Best Corporate Strategy? None, Of Course," Chicago Tribune, 11 July 1994 — not Leonardo da Vinci.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Leonardo da Vinci. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by Tom Peters (syndicated column, first published in the Chicago Tribune, 1994)). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of Tom Peters — American management writer & co-author of In Search of Excellence. Theme: "Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

Where it actually comes from

Author: Tom Peters
Source: “The Best Corporate Strategy? None, Of Course.”
Published: Chicago Tribune, 11 July 1994
Popular misattribution: Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)

Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.

The line is a compressed statement of Peters’ core theme — relentless experimentation, doubling down on what wins, and moving on before a hit gets commoditized.

Tom Peters on Wikiquote (sourced section, with the 1994 Chicago Tribune citation)

How we verified this

Wikiquote lists the quote in its Tom Peters ↗ sourced section, citing his column “The Best Corporate Strategy? None, Of Course,” Chicago Tribune, 11 July 1994 ↗.
Quote-scraper sites such as AZQuotes ↗ print the same words under Leonardo da Vinci with no source — the classic profile of a fabricated attribution.
The wording itself dates the line: a 15th-century painter’s notebooks contain nothing about rivals who “quickly copy” a product that “works big.” This is corporate-strategy language.

In copyright

The line comes from Tom Peters’ syndicated newspaper column, first published in 1994 — well after 1931 — so it remains under copyright to its living author and original publisher. It is not a public-domain da Vinci text.

Fact-check

How da Vinci got the credit

This is a textbook “magnet name” swap: a punchy modern business line gets re-pinned onto Leonardo da Vinci, whose fame lends instant gravitas. The genuine author is a living management writer.

Leonardo da Vinci Fabricated attribution

Quote-scraper databases like AZQuotes ↗ print these words under da Vinci with no citation to any notebook, letter, or treatise. None of his surviving writings contain it, and its business idiom — rivals who “quickly copy” a hit — is anachronistic for c. 1500.

The real author is management writer Tom Peters, whose 1994 Chicago Tribune column is cited in Wikiquote’s sourced section ↗.

Context

Why the line resonates

Peters built a career arguing that no fixed strategy survives contact with a fast-moving market. The quote’s punchline — “The trick is the doing something else” — captures his belief that the hard part isn’t finding a winner but leaving it behind before competitors erode the advantage.

Stripped of its author, the aphorism travels easily as generic wisdom, which is exactly how it drifted onto Leonardo da Vinci across inspirational-quote sites.

You do more of what works — then the trick is doing something else.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Success Failure Creativity

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Tom Peters — Wikiquoteen.wikiquote.org

Sourced entry citing the quote to Peters’ 1994 Chicago Tribune column.

Tom Peters — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

Biography of the management writer, co-author of In Search of Excellence.

tompeters.comtompeters.com

Peters’ own site — decades of writing on experimentation and strategy.

AZQuotes — da Vinci pageazquotes.com

Example of the sourceless misattribution to Leonardo da Vinci.

BrainyQuote — Tom Petersbrainyquote.com

Attributes the exact wording to Tom Peters.

The real author

Tom Peters

b. 1942 · American management writer & co-author of In Search of Excellence

Thomas J. Peters is an American writer on business management, best known for co-authoring In Search of Excellence (1982) with Robert H. Waterman Jr. Through books and a widely syndicated newspaper column, he championed decentralization, customer obsession, and above all relentless experimentation. This quote distills that last theme: try many things, keep the winners, and keep moving.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source

Tom Peters, “The Best Corporate Strategy? None, Of Course,” Chicago Tribune, 11 July 1994. Documented in Wikiquote’s sourced entry for Tom Peters.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else’?” Last verified 14 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/life-is-pretty-simple-you-do-some-stuff-most-fails-some