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Creativity39 quotes
The true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention. — Socrates · 375 BCImagination labors best in distant fields. — Mark Twain · 1869You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?" — George Bernard Shaw · 1921One must have chaos inside oneself to give birth to a dancing star. — Friedrich Nietzsche · 1883Some people are far more sensitive to resemblances, and far more ready to point out wherein they consist, than others are. They are the wits, the poets, the inventors, the scientific men, the practical geniuses. — William James · 1890The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. — Albert Einstein · 1930All 39 quotes →Innovation8 quotes
The true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention. — Socrates · 375 BCA new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way. But intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience. — Albert Einstein · 1949Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos. — Mary Shelley · 1831Invention... Arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble. — Agatha Christie · 1976Our inventions mirror our secret wishes. — Lawrence Durrell · 1958Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through. — R.D. Laing · 1967All 8 quotes →Invention5 quotes
The true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention. — Socrates · 375 BCInvention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos. — Mary Shelley · 1831Invention... Arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble. — Agatha Christie · 1976Necessity is the mother of invention. — Richard Franck · 1694Our inventions mirror our secret wishes. — Lawrence Durrell · 1958Originality5 quotes
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. — Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi · 1962Bees ransack flowers here and there, but then they make honey, which is entirely theirs: it is no longer thyme or marjoram. Similarly a boy will transform and mix his borrowings. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Original thoughts are like shy animals. We sometimes have to look the other way - towards a busy street or terminal - before they run out of their burrows. — Alain de Botton · 2010The only way to be new is constantly to change yourself, and the only way to be original is to increase, enlarge, deepen your own personality. — W. Somerset Maugham · 1949It is the lone worker who makes the first advance in a subject: the details may be worked out by a team, but the prime idea is due to the enterprise, thought, and perception of an individual. — Alexander Fleming · 1951Borrowing and creativity4 quotes
Steal old stuff. — Austin Kleon · 2017The true artist is known by the use he makes of what he annexes, and he annexes everything. — Oscar Wilde · 1885The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different from that from which it was torn. — T.S. Eliot · 1920The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web. — Pablo Picasso · 1935Art3 quotes
We work in the dark—we do what we can—we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art. — Henry James · 1893The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. — Jackson Pollock · 1948Limitations are really good for you. They are a stimulant. If you were told to make a drawing of a tulip using five lines, or using a hundred, you'd have to be more inventive with the five. — David HockneyInspiration3 quotes
Imagination labors best in distant fields. — Mark Twain · 1869Steal old stuff. — Austin Kleon · 2017I by no means owe my works to my own wisdom alone, but to a thousand things and persons around me, who provided me with material. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1832Creation2 quotes
We work in the dark—we do what we can—we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art. — Henry James · 1893But there is good and reason in us, in human beings, with whom fortune plays, and we can be stronger than nature and fate, if only for a few hours. And we can draw close to one another in times of need, understand and love one another, and live to comfort each other. And sometimes, when the black depths are silent, we can do even more. We can then be gods for moments, stretch out a commanding hand and create things which were not there before and which, when they are created, continue to live without us. — Hermann Hesse · 1910Creative impulse2 quotes
The desire to create is one of the strongest urges a human spirit can contain. It will always break through. — Tennessee Williams · 1975The urge for destruction is also a creative urge! — Mikhail Bakunin · 1842Discovery2 quotes
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. — Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi · 1962A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way. But intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience. — Albert Einstein · 1949Ideas2 quotes
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen. — John Steinbeck · 1947Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through. — R.D. Laing · 1967Imagination2 quotes
Imagination labors best in distant fields. — Mark Twain · 1869Imagination is more important than knowledge. — Albert Einstein · 1929The individual2 quotes
Creative ideas do not spring from groups. They spring from individuals. — Alfred Whitney Griswold · 1957It is the lone worker who makes the first advance in a subject: the details may be worked out by a team, but the prime idea is due to the enterprise, thought, and perception of an individual. — Alexander Fleming · 1951Thinking big2 quotes
You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?" — George Bernard Shaw · 1921Wise people... Are so wise and practical that they always know to a dot just why something cannot be done; they always know the limitations. — Henry Ford · 1922Thinking outside the box2 quotes
You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?" — George Bernard Shaw · 1921Wise people... Are so wise and practical that they always know to a dot just why something cannot be done; they always know the limitations. — Henry Ford · 1922Artistic constraints1 quote
Limitations are really good for you. They are a stimulant. If you were told to make a drawing of a tulip using five lines, or using a hundred, you'd have to be more inventive with the five. — David HockneyArtistic process1 quote
The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. — Jackson Pollock · 1948Artists1 quote
The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web. — Pablo Picasso · 1935Awe1 quote
The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. — Albert Einstein · 1930Combinatorial creativity1 quote
Some people are far more sensitive to resemblances, and far more ready to point out wherein they consist, than others are. They are the wits, the poets, the inventors, the scientific men, the practical geniuses. — William James · 1890Committees1 quote
Creative ideas do not spring from groups. They spring from individuals. — Alfred Whitney Griswold · 1957Courage1 quote
Creativity takes courage. — Henri MatisseCreative process1 quote
I have had a good many more uplifting thoughts, creative and expansive visions-while soaking in comfortable baths or drying myself after bracing showers-in well-equipped American bathrooms than I have ever had in any cathedral. — Edmund Wilson · 1956Destructive impulses1 quote
The urge for destruction is also a creative urge! — Mikhail Bakunin · 1842Effects of travel1 quote
Imagination labors best in distant fields. — Mark Twain · 1869Genius1 quote
One must have chaos inside oneself to give birth to a dancing star. — Friedrich Nietzsche · 1883Genius and insanity1 quote
Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through. — R.D. Laing · 1967God and man1 quote
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree. — Joyce Kilmer · 1913Human nature1 quote
The desire to create is one of the strongest urges a human spirit can contain. It will always break through. — Tennessee Williams · 1975Human potential1 quote
But there is good and reason in us, in human beings, with whom fortune plays, and we can be stronger than nature and fate, if only for a few hours. And we can draw close to one another in times of need, understand and love one another, and live to comfort each other. And sometimes, when the black depths are silent, we can do even more. We can then be gods for moments, stretch out a commanding hand and create things which were not there before and which, when they are created, continue to live without us. — Hermann Hesse · 1910