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
Not Leonardo da Vinci — actually Tom PetersTom Petersb. 1942 · American management writer
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.
“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.
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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.
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.
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.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
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.
✕
The whole quoteLeonardo 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.
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/