My Favorite Creativity Quotes

Here are a few of my favorite creativity quotes. Mostly they speak for themselves, but I have to comment on the one by Matisse (the first one below). It gets at the heart of what makes it difficult to be truly creative - and to see things clearly. We see the image in our mind, and that gets in the way of the reality as it currently exists as well as the reality that can be.

Creativity Quotes

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted. - Henri Matisse

To stimulate creativity, one must develop the childlike inclination for play and the childlike desire for recognition. - Albert Einstein

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities. - Dr. Seuss

I try more and more to be myself, caring relatively little whether people approve or disapprove. - Vincent Van Gogh

During those rare moments of creativeness, when an ordinary person has something in common with the making of the universe, he feels a sense of transcendence, of moving beyond his daily life. What could be a greater reward? - Joseph Zinker

It takes courage to be creative; just as soon as you have a new idea you are in a minority of one. - Paul Torrance

A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind. - Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. - Herman Melville

It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchangeable colour to every object; beware of this stumbling block. - Paul Gauguin

I try to please people, to give them a good time, but I refuse to make my act conform to traditional show-biz standards of entertainment. There's a little voice that says, 'Oh, no, you can't do that, that's breaking all the rules.' That's the voice of show business. Then this other little voice says, 'Try it.' And most of the time, when the voice comes on and says, 'No,' that's the time it works. - Andy Kaufman

If you enjoyed these creativity quotes, you may also want to visit the page "Motivational Sayings."

Increase Brainpower Home Page | Creativity Quotes