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Quotations: Creativity, imagination

In a time of social fragmentation, vulgarity becomes a way of life. To be shocking becomes more important—and often more profitable—than to be civil or creative or truly original.
— Al Gore, politician and U.S. vice president (b. 1948)

Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true.
— William Inge, American playwright (1913-1973)

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
— Albert Einstein, Swiss-American mathematician, physicist and public philosopher (1879-1955)

Analysis kills spontaneity. The grain once ground into flour germinates no more.
— Henri Amiel, Swiss author (1821-1881)

It is with the heart that one sees rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
— Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French aviator and author (1900-1944), from The Little Prince

You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.
— Albert Einstein, Swiss-American mathematician, physicist and public philosopher (1879-1955)

No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking.
— Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet), French author, wit and philosopher (1694-1778)

Discovery is the ability to be puzzled by simple things.
— Noam Chomsky, American linguist and political activist (b. 1928)

To swear off making mistakes is very easy. All you have to do is swear off having ideas.
— Leo Burnett, American advertising pioneer (1891-1971)

Imagination was given to us to compensate for what we are not; a sense of humor was given to us to console us for what we are.
— Mack McGinnis

The greatest and most important problems in life are all in a certain sense insoluble. They can never be solved, but only outgrown.
— Carl Jung, Swiss founder of analytical psychology (1875-1961)

Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.
— Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman and novelist (1804-1881)

Cowardice. . . is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.
— Ernest Hemingway, American novelist (1899-1961)

Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear.
— William Congreve, English dramatist (1670-1729)

If you let fear of consequence prevent you from following your deepest instinct, then your life will be safe, expedient and thin.
— Katharine Butler Hathaway, author

I criticize by creation, not by finding fault.
— Cicero (Marcus Tullius), Roman orator, philosopher and statesman (106-43 B.C.)

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
— Plutarch, Greek biographer, philosopher and priest of Apollo (45-125 A.D.)

Security can only be achieved through constant change, through discarding old ideas that have outlived their usefulness and adapting others to current facts.
— William O. Douglas, American jurist, Supreme Court justice (1898-1980)

To describe happiness is to diminish it.
— Henri Stendahl (Marie-Henri Beyle), French novelist (1783-1842)

Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.
— Horace Walpole, English author and man of letters (1717-1797)

New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not common.
— John Locke, English empiricist philosopher (1632-1704)

So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.
— Benjamin Franklin, American Founding Father, inventor and statesman (1706-1790), from his Autobiography

Few men think, yet all will have opinions.
— George Berkeley, Irish bishop and empirical philosopher (1685-1753)

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
— Carl Jung, Swiss founder of analytical psychology (1875-1961)

Make no little plans! They have no magic to stir mens blood.
— Daniel Burnham, 19th-century Chicago architect

If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it.
— Ronnie Lott, football player

When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.
— Ethiopian proverb

Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.
— Voltaire, French philosopher and writer (1694-1778)

Doubt is the key to knowledge.
— Persian proverb