The creative person wants to be a know -it -all. He wants to know about all kinds of things: ancient read more

The creative person wants to be a know -it -all. He wants to know about all kinds of things: ancient history, nineteenth -century mathematics, current manufacturing techniques, flower arranging, and hog futures. Because he never knows when these ideas might come together to form a new idea. It may happen six minutes later or six months, or six years down the road. But he has faith that it will happen.

The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.

The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.

Because of their courage, their lack of fear, they (creative people) are willing to make silly mistakes. The truly creative read more

Because of their courage, their lack of fear, they (creative people) are willing to make silly mistakes. The truly creative person is one who can think crazy; such a person knows full well that many of his great ideas will prove to be worthless. The creative person is flexible -- he is able to change as the situation changes, to break habits, to face indecision and changes in conditions without undue stress. He is not threatened by the unexpected as rigid, inflexible people are.

The deepest experience of the creator is feminine, for it is experience of receiving and bearing. - Letters of Rainer read more

The deepest experience of the creator is feminine, for it is experience of receiving and bearing. - Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke.

It's like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole read more

It's like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

It is not good enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.

It is not good enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.

First, I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my read more

First, I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my mind. If it were clear in my mind, I should have no incentive or need to write about it. We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.

The merit of originality is not novelty; it is sincerity.

The merit of originality is not novelty; it is sincerity.