quotations about creativity
Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity.
EDWIN LAND
attributed, The Executives Book of Quotations
To think outside of the box you must be outside of the box.
ALFREDA DOYLE
Poetry about Creativity
Creation which cannot express itself becomes madness.
ANAÏS NIN
diary, Oct. 18, 1936
Creativity is the source of novelty and of the creative advance, which leads to the concretion of actual entities that have not previously existed.
FRIEDRICH RAPP
Whitehead's Metaphysics of Creativity
Artists know that there is no creativity without a system of formal restraints.
KATHY GALLOWAY
introduction, Dreaming of Eden
Peaks of creativity are, of course, rare, as are peaks of strength, beauty, or goodness. We are a gifted species, but feats like penning a Hamlet, or formulating the relativity theory, or inspiring satyagraha by the millions do come but once in a long while. But peaks are not the only attractive or important features of a landscape. There are also vales and moors and meadows and waters and woods. The layperson may look at the sun and conclude there is no worthwhile light elsewhere. She would be mistaken. Lesser human creativity is scattered widely, like the lights of a city at night, and in its own way, is quite attractive and useful.
KWANDWALLA
Lifelong Creativity
The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.
MARY OLIVER
"Of Power and Time,", Blue Pastures
The creative is always an act of recombination, with something added by new juxtaposition--as making a spark requires two things struck together.
JANE HIRSHFIELD
interview, Words with Writers, Dec. 5, 2011
Creativity is a highfalutin word for the work I have to do between now and Tuesday.
RAY KROC
attributed, Encarta Book of Quotations
Creativity is a matter of life and death for any society.
ARNOLD TOYNBEE
Widening Horizons in Creativity
Creativity is not simply a property of exceptional people but an exceptional property of all people.
RON CARTER
Language and Creativity: The Art of Common Talk
They all possessed that virtuous energy of the ancients ... the republic of creative minds: each giant calling to his brother through the desolate intervals of time. And undisturbed by the wanton noises of the dwarfs that creep past beneath them, their high spirit-converse continues.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks
Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.
EDWARD DE BONO
Lateral Thinking for Management
Creative expression, whether that means writing, dancing, bird-watching, or cooking, can give a person almost everything that he or she has been searching for: enlivenment, peace, meaning, and the incalculable wealth of time spent quietly in beauty.
ANNE LAMOTT
"Time Lost and Found", Sunset
My feeling is that as far as creativity is concerned, isolation is required. The creative person is, in any case, continually working at it. His mind is shuffling his information at all times, even when he is not conscious of it.... The presence of others can only inhibit this process, since creation is embarrassing. For every new good idea you have, there are a hundred, ten thousand foolish ones, which you naturally do not care to display.
ISAAC ASIMOV
"On Creativity", MIT Technology Review
You will find that the truth about creativity is hidden behind this high wall in front of us. I have made a ladder that suits me so I can climb up and see what is hidden there. You are welcome to study my ladder, to copy it if you need to, or even climb up on it together with me to see over the wall. However, when I leave I have to take my ladder with me, so the best thing for you is to build your own, one that suits you best.
ANDERS LENNART SWAHN & STAFFAN SVAHN
Creativity
Creativity is never just doing something different. It is doing something different that is significant at that precise point in the cultural tradition.
MARK AMSLER
The Languages of Creativity
My muse must come to me on union time.
GEORGE BALANCHINE
"Balanchine Said", The New Yorker, January 26, 2009
Creative activity could be described as a type of learning process where teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.
ARTHUR KOESTLER
Drinkers of Infinity
Creativity cannot always be attained at will. There are fluctuations that occur in the process. A certain amount of down time is necessary for the creative process to run its course. Putting the right things into the brain is preparation so that once those down times take place, the intuitive part of the brain has something to draw on for inspiration and content.
WILLIAM G. COVINGTON
JR., Creativity and General Systems Theory