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Quotes about ideas

115 quotes from 89 people

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Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That’s not the place to become discouraged.
Thomas Edison1847–1931
The value of an idea lies in the using of it.
Thomas Edison1847–1931
Great ideas originate in the muscles.
Thomas Edison1847–1931
A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way. But intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience.
Albert Einstein1879–1955Letter to Dr. H. L. Gordon (May 3, 1949—AEA 58-217) as quoted in Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007) by Walter Isaacson
- Experience
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.
Albert Einstein1879–1955Cosmic Religion: With Other Opinions and Aphorisms (1931), p. 97
- Knowledge
Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed.
Dwight D. Eisenhower1890–1969Remarks at the Dartmouth College Commencement Exercises (14 June 1953)
The world moves, and ideas that were good once are not always good.
Dwight D. Eisenhower1890–1969Press Conference, Washington, D.C.
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
T. S. Eliot1888–1965The Hollow Men (1925)In context
In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882Self-Reliance (1841)In context
- Genius
It is by acts, and not by ideas that people live.
Anatole France1844–1924The Literary Life (1888-1892), Series I: Sérénus
Only a crisis⁠—actual or perceived⁠—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around.
Milton Friedman1912–2006Capitalism and Freedom (1962), preface to the 1982 edition, p. ix
- Change
Gods die. And when they truly die they are unmourned and unremembered. Ideas are more difficult to kill than people, but they can be killed, in the end.
Neil Gaimanborn 1960American Gods (2001), Ch. 3
- Religion
To apply oneself to great inventions, starting from the smallest beginnings, is no task for ordinary minds; to divine that wonderful arts lie hid behind trivial and childish things is a conception for superhuman talents.
Galileo Galilei1564–1642Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632)
- Genius
When ideas fail, words come in very handy.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe1749–1832
- Talking
Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten but they may start a winning game.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe1749–1832