# Quotes about ideas - Quotes: 81 - Authors: 62 - Broader topic: [Quotes about thinking](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking.md) - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas - JSON version (same data): https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.json ## Quotes > Let's get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up. [Stephen King](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king.md) · [On Writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/lets-get-one.md) Topics: [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > Always in life an idea starts small, it is only a sapling idea, but the vines will come and they will try to choke your idea so it cannot grow, and it will die and you will never know you had a big idea, an idea so big it could have grown thirty meters through the dark canopy of leaves and touched the face of the sky. The vines are people who are afraid of originality, of new thinking. Most people you encounter will be vines; when you are a young plant they are very dangerous. Always listen to yourself, Peekay. It is better to be wrong than simply to follow convention. If you are wrong, no matter, you have learned something and you grow stronger. If you are right, you have taken another step toward a fulfilling life. [Bryce Courtenay](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryce-courtenay.md) · [The Power of One](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryce-courtenay/the-power-of-one.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryce-courtenay/the-power-of-one/always-in-life.md) Topics: [conformity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > When all the good ideas have been expended, I quoted to myself, one might as well try a bad one. [Matt Hughes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes.md) · [Hespira](https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes/hespira.md) · p. 222 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes/hespira/when-all-the.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > “From within such a calcified culture, no change can be generated; the impetus for reform must arise from without. Hence, the external threat posed by Hunan Diath.” > > “Who does not exist,” said Filidor. > > “Who need not exist,” said Gaskarth, “so long as the idea can do its work.” [Matt Hughes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes.md) · [Fools Errant](https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes/fools-errant.md) · p. 148 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes/fools-errant/from-within-such.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > I asked, “Is it so easy to change a cultural vision.” > > “The relevant measures are not ease and difficulty. The relevant measures are readiness and unreadiness. If the time isn’t right for a new idea, no power on earth can make it catch on, but if the time is right, it will sweep the world like wildfire. [Daniel Quinn](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn.md) · [The Story of B](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/the-story-of-b.md) · p. 50 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/the-story-of-b/i-asked-is.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > I’ve seen this all before, Althalus ... many, many times. An idea that’s born in glory starts to tarnish almost immediately. [David Eddings](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings.md) · [The Redemption of Althalus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus/ive-seen-this.md) Topics: [transience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > I was left with a great idea gutted by critical examination. But that's good. That's how we make ideas better—by trying to poke holes in them and then finding ways to fix the holes. [Greg Craven](https://www.leafyquotes.com/greg-craven.md) · [What's the Worst That Could Happen?](https://www.leafyquotes.com/greg-craven/whats-the-worst-that-could-happen.md) · p. 31 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/greg-craven/whats-the-worst-that-could-happen/i-was-left.md) Topics: [criticism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/criticism.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > That’s how ideas are generated. Unusual combinations, mixing old and new, stimulate original ideas, that is, ideas with origins. [Will Gompertz](https://www.leafyquotes.com/will-gompertz.md) · [Think Like an Artist](https://www.leafyquotes.com/will-gompertz/think-like-an-artist.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/will-gompertz/think-like-an-artist/thats-how-ideas.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [creativity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/creativity.md) > Theories were a dime a dozen. The partition that separated science and wishful thinking was evidence: observations and firm facts. [Charles Sheffield](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield.md) · [Convergence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/convergence.md) · p. 317 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/convergence/theories-were-a-dime.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [evidence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evidence.md) > Recall the model of the paradigm shift introduced by Thomas Kuhn: Every important new idea in science sounds strange at first. As the physicist Niels Bohr put it, great innovations inevitably appear muddled, confusing, and incomplete, only half-understood even by their discoverers, and a mystery to everyone else. There is no hope, Bohr said, for any speculation that does not look absurd at first glance. [Marilyn Ferguson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson.md) · [The Aquarian Conspiracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson/the-aquarian-conspiracy.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson/the-aquarian-conspiracy/recall-the-model.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > Sure—that’s the concept. It wouldn’t be the first concept that had to be modified in the face of experience. [Keith Laumer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/keith-laumer.md) · [Dinosaur Beach](https://www.leafyquotes.com/keith-laumer/dinosaur-beach.md) · p. 96 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/keith-laumer/dinosaur-beach/sure-thats-the-concept.md) Topics: [experience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/experience.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > Foster shook his head. “The inherent inertia of the human mind,” he said. “How it fights to resist new ideas.” [Keith Laumer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/keith-laumer.md) · [A Trace of Memory](https://www.leafyquotes.com/keith-laumer/a-trace-of-memory.md) · p. 37 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/keith-laumer/a-trace-of-memory/foster-shook-his.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [reason](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > I’m a guy who doesn’t understand intangible stakes. I know some would argue that I have a set of values I take pretty seriously, but if I can’t eat it or spend it or make it go purr in the night, I don’t know what to do with it. It’s a weakness, a blind spot. Sometimes I forget that there are guys willing to get killed over ideas. [Glen Cook](https://www.leafyquotes.com/glen-cook.md) · [Cold Copper Tears](https://www.leafyquotes.com/glen-cook/cold-copper-tears.md) · p. 149 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/glen-cook/cold-copper-tears/im-a-guy.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > True ideology has vanished, replaced by fear and fantasy. The right wing wants corporate control and a return to a past that never existed. The left wing wants government control and a future that will never exist. Both groups lose sight of the essential questions: how can the individual speak and think and create freely? New ideas are the only evolutionary force that will save us from destruction. [John Twelve Hawks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-twelve-hawks.md) · [Spark](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-twelve-hawks/spark.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-twelve-hawks/spark/true-ideology-has.md) Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > The power of ideas to transform the world is itself accelerating. [Ray Kurzweil](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil.md) · [The Singularity Is Near](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near.md) · p. 3 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near/the-power-of-ideas.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > To this day I remain convinced of this basic philosophy: no matter what quandries we face...there is an idea that can enable us to prevail. [Ray Kurzweil](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil.md) · [The Singularity Is Near](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near.md) · p. 2 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near/to-this-day.md) Topics: [hope](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > This, then, was the religion that I was raised with: veneration for human creativity and the power of ideas. [Ray Kurzweil](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil.md) · [The Singularity Is Near](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near.md) · p. 2 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near/this-then-was.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [creativity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/creativity.md) > He who enlists a man's mind wields a power even greater than the sword or the scepter. [Robert L. Heilbroner](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-l-heilbroner.md) · [The Worldly Philosophers](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-l-heilbroner/the-worldly-philosophers.md) · p. 3 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-l-heilbroner/the-worldly-philosophers/he-who-enlists.md) Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > They opposed brute force to reason and philosophy, and battalions of foreign mercenaries to ideas. As if ideas were to be impaled on bayonets! [Rafael Sabatini](https://www.leafyquotes.com/rafael-sabatini.md) · [Scaramouche](https://www.leafyquotes.com/rafael-sabatini/scaramouche.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/rafael-sabatini/scaramouche/they-opposed-brute.md) Topics: [violence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > It is much easier to burn men than to burn their opinions. [Charles Dickens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens.md) · [A Child's History of England](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-childs-history-of-england.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-childs-history-of-england/it-is-much.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [freedom of speech](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom-of-speech.md) > The best of ideas is hurt by uncritical acceptance and thrives on critical examination. [George Pólya](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-polya.md) · [How to Solve It](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-polya/how-to-solve-it.md) · p. 100 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-polya/how-to-solve-it/the-best-of-ideas.md) Topics: [criticism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/criticism.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > If you're waiting to have good ideas before you have any ideas, you won't have many ideas. [David Allen](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-allen.md) · [Getting Things Done](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-allen/getting-things-done.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-allen/getting-things-done/if-youre-waiting.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [creativity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/creativity.md) > The possibility that a void exists after death has motivated me to work hard so I can make a difference — so that my thoughts and ideas will not die. When I was working on my Ph.D., a coworker in our lab told me that the world's libraries contain our extra soma, or out-of-body genes. Ideas are passed on like genes, and I have a great urge to spread my ideas. I read an article in the newspaper about an official at the New York Public Library who said that the only place on earth where immortality is provided is in libraries. This is the collective memory of humanity. I put this on a sign and placed it over my desk. It helped me to persevere and get through my Ph.D. work. (p199) [Temple Grandin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/temple-grandin.md) · [Thinking in Pictures](https://www.leafyquotes.com/temple-grandin/thinking-in-pictures.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/temple-grandin/thinking-in-pictures/the-possibility-that.md) Topics: [death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death.md), [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > Myths often do a lot of theoretical good, while they are still new. [Gilbert Ryle](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gilbert-ryle.md) · [The Concept of Mind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gilbert-ryle/the-concept-of-mind.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gilbert-ryle/the-concept-of-mind/myths-often-do-a-lot.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > In her book, Philosophy in a New Key, Susanne Langer remarks that certain ideas burst upon the intellectual landscape with a tremendous force. They resolve so many fundamental problems at once that they seem also to promise that they will resolve all fundamental problems, clarify all obscure issues. Everyone snaps them up as the open sesame of some new positive science, the conceptual center-point around which a comprehensive system of analysis can be built. The sudden vogue of such a grande ideé, crowding out almost everything else for a while, is due, she says, “to the fact that all sensitive and active minds turn at once to exploiting it. We try it in every connection, for every purpose, experiment with possible stretches of its strict meaning, with generalizations and derivatives.” [Clifford Geertz](https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-geertz.md) · [The Interpretation of Cultures](https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-geertz/the-interpretation-of-cultures.md) · p. 3 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-geertz/the-interpretation-of-cultures/in-her-book.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > After we have become familiar with the new idea, however, after it has become part of our general stock of theoretical concepts, our expectations are brought more into balance with its actual uses, and its excessive popularity is ended. A few zealots persist in the old key-to-the-universe view of it; but less driven thinkers settle down after a while to the problems the idea has really generated. They try to apply it and extend it where it applies and where it is capable of extension; and they desist where it does not apply or cannot be extended. It becomes, if it was, in truth, a seminal idea in the first place, a permanent and enduring part of our intellectual armory. But it no longer has the grandiose, all-promising scope, the infinite versatility of apparent application, it once had. The second law of thermodynamics, or the principle of natural selection, or the notion of unconscious motivation, or the organization of the means of production does not explain everything, not even everything human, but it still explains something; and our attention shifts to isolating just what that something is, to disentangling ourselves from a lot of pseudoscience to which, in the first flush of its celebrity, it has also given rise. [Clifford Geertz](https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-geertz.md) · [The Interpretation of Cultures](https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-geertz/the-interpretation-of-cultures.md) · p. 3 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-geertz/the-interpretation-of-cultures/after-we-have.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > It is quite likely that the 21st century will reveal even more wonderful insights than those that we have been blessed with in the 20th. But for this to happen, we shall need powerful new ideas, which will take us in directions significantly different from those currently being pursued. Perhaps what we mainly need is some subtle change in perspective—something that we all have missed.... [Roger Penrose](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-penrose.md) · [The Road to Reality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-penrose/the-road-to-reality.md) · p. 1045 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-penrose/the-road-to-reality/it-is-quite.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [the future](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-future.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > In many ways connection has been disastrous. We have confused information (of which there has been too much of) with ideas (of which there are too few. I found out much more about the world and myself by being unconnected. [Paul Theroux](https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-theroux.md) · [Fresh-air Fiend](https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-theroux/fresh-air-fiend.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-theroux/fresh-air-fiend/in-many-ways.md) Topics: [technology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [information](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/information.md) > Nobody can burn an idea even if they burn the man. [Bernard Malamud](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-malamud.md) · [The Fixer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-malamud/the-fixer.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-malamud/the-fixer/nobody-can-burn.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > What persuades men and women to mistake each other from time to time for gods or vermin is ideology. One can understand well enough how human beings may struggle and murder for good material reasons—reasons connected, for instance, with their physical survival. It is much harder to grasp how they may come to do so in the name of something as apparently abstract as ideas. Yet ideas are what men and women live by, and will occasionally die for. [Terry Eagleton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-eagleton.md) · [Ideology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-eagleton/ideology.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-eagleton/ideology/what-persuades-men.md) Topics: [violence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > Sometimes convenience counted for more than ideology. [Harry Turtledove](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove.md) · [Settling Accounts: Return Engagement](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-return-engagement.md) · p. 51 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-return-engagement/sometimes-convenience-counted.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [comfort](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/comfort.md) > An idea may be a good one no matter who propounds it. [Harry Turtledove](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove.md) · [How Few Remain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/how-few-remain.md) · p. 539 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/how-few-remain/an-idea-may.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > By what strange law of mind is it that an idea long overlooked, and trodden under foot as a useless stone, suddenly sparkles out in new light, as a discovered diamond? [Harriet Beecher-Stowe](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harriet-beecher-stowe.md) · [Uncle Tom's Cabin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harriet-beecher-stowe/uncle-toms-cabin.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harriet-beecher-stowe/uncle-toms-cabin/by-what-strange.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > What ideas are convenient to express inevitably becomes the important content of a culture. [Neil Postman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-postman.md) · [Amusing Ourselves to Death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-postman/amusing-ourselves-to-death.md) · p. 6 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-postman/amusing-ourselves-to-death/what-ideas-are.md) Topics: [culture](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/culture.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > To the zealot overcome by his piety and to the journeyman of ideas concerned only with his marketable mental skills, the beginning and end of ideas lies in their efficacy with respect to some goal external to intellectual processes. [Richard Hofstadter](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter.md) · [Anti-Intellectualism in American Life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life.md) · p. 31 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life/to-the-zealot.md) Topics: [fanaticism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > The intellectual … may live for ideas, as I have said, but something must prevent him from living for one idea, from becoming obsessive or grotesque. Although there have been zealots whom we may still regard as intellectuals, zealotry is a defect of the breed and not of the essence. [Richard Hofstadter](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter.md) · [Anti-Intellectualism in American Life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life.md) · p. 29 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life/the-intellectual-may.md) Topics: [fanaticism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > If there is anything more dangerous to the life of the mind than having no independent commitment to ideas, it is having an excess of commitment to some special and constricting idea. The effect is as observable in politics as in theology: the intellectual function can be overwhelmed by an excess of piety expended within too contracted a frame of reference. [Richard Hofstadter](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter.md) · [Anti-Intellectualism in American Life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life.md) · p. 29 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life/if-there-is-anything.md) Topics: [fanaticism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > An intellectual … lives for ideas—which means that he has a sense of dedication to the life of the mind which is very much like a religious commitment. This is not surprising, for in a very important way the role of the intellectual is inherited from the office of the cleric: it implies a special sense of the ultimate value in existence of the act of comprehension. Socrates, when he said that the unexamined life is not worth living, struck the essence of it. We can hear the voices of various intellectuals in history repeating their awareness of this feeling, in accents suitable to time, place and culture. “The proper function of the human race, taken in the aggregate,” wrote Dante in De Monarchia, “is to actualize continually the entire capacity possible to the intellect, primarily in speculation, then through its extension and for its sake, secondarily in action.” The noblest thing, and the closest possible to divinity, is thus the act of knowing. [Richard Hofstadter](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter.md) · [Anti-Intellectualism in American Life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life.md) · p. 27 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life/an-intellectual-lives.md) Topics: [intelligence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/intelligence.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > April 24 - Objectivity is presumably the opposite of schizophrenia. Which means that it is nothing but acceptance of everybody else's notion of reality. But nobody's perception of reality is the same as everybody's notion of it, which means that the most objective person is the real schizophrenic. It is hard to get beyond the accepted beliefs of one's own age. The first man to think a new thought advances it very tentatively. New ideas have to be around a while before anyone will promote them hard. In their first form, they are like tiny, imperceptible mutations that may eventually lead to new species. That's why cultural cross-fertilization is so important. It increases the gene-pool of the imagination. The Arabs, say, have one part of the puzzle. The Franks another. So, when the Knights Templar meet the Hashishin, something new is born. The human race has always lived more or less happily in the kingdom of the blind. But there is an elephant among us. A one-eyed elephant. [Robert Shea](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-shea.md) · [The Illuminatus! Trilogy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-shea/the-illuminatus-trilogy.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-shea/the-illuminatus-trilogy/april-24-objectivity.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [point of view](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/point-of-view.md) > Ideas oozed out of books like magma out of volcanoes. [Sheri S. Tepper](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper.md) · [The Margarets](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets.md) · p. 15 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets/ideas-oozed-out.md) Topics: [reading](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > Hang ideas! They are tramps, vagabonds, knocking at the back-door of your mind, each taking a little of your substance, each carrying away some crumb of that belief in a few simple notions you must cling to if you want to live decently and would like to die easy!. [Joseph Conrad](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad.md) · [Lord Jim](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/lord-jim.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/lord-jim/hang-ideas-they.md) Topics: [beliefs](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beliefs.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > These chaps were not much account, really. They were no colonists; their administration was merely a squeeze, and nothing more, I suspect. They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force — nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others. They grabbed what they could get for the sake of what was to be got. It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind — as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness. The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea — something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to. . . [Joseph Conrad](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad.md) · [Heart of Darkness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/heart-of-darkness.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/heart-of-darkness/these-chaps-were.md) Topics: [violence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [colonialism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/colonialism.md) > It's how creativity works. Especially in humans. For every good idea, ten thousand idiotic ones must first be posed, sifted, tried out, and discarded. A mind that's afraid to toy with the ridiculous will never come up with the brilliantly original. [David Brin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin.md) · [Brightness Reef](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/brightness-reef.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/brightness-reef/its-how-creativity.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [creativity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/creativity.md) > Getting every employee's mind into the game is a huge part of what a CEO job is all about. Taking everyone's best ideas and transferring them to others is the secret. There's nothing more important. [Jack Welch](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-welch.md) · [Jack](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-welch/jack.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-welch/jack/getting-every-employees.md) Topics: [leadership](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/leadership.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > In today's impoverished dialogue, critiques of liberalism are often naively called "conservative," as if twenty-five hundred years of Western intellectual tradition presented no other alternatives. [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sex, Art, and American Culture](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture/in-todays-impoverished.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > If more people had put their fellow human beings before abstractions last century, we shouldn’t be where we are now. [Brian Aldiss](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss.md) · [Greybeard](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss/greybeard.md) · p. 190 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss/greybeard/if-more-people.md) Topics: [human nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > Every court must have its fool, every great ideal must attract some who are motivated only by self-interest. [Michael Moorcock](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock.md) · [The Runestaff](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-runestaff.md) · p. 413 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-runestaff/every-court-must.md) Topics: [selfishness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/selfishness.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > We know that the real lesson to be taught is that the human person is precious and unique; but we seem unable to set it forth except in terms of ideology and abstraction. [Iris Murdoch](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iris-murdoch.md) · [Sartre](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iris-murdoch/sartre.md) · p. 148 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iris-murdoch/sartre/we-know-that.md) Topics: [human nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > All good ideas are of their time... and are liable to turn from blessings into blights if persisted in too long. The justifiable right of workers to organize in protection of their interests turned at last into featherbedding, the Teamster rackets, auto companies made uncompetitive by extravagant benefits agreements, and government-worker unions voting themselves ever-bigger shares of the public fisc. The campaign for full civil rights and racial justice turned into affirmative action, race quotas, grievance lawsuits, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and everlasting racial rancor. [John Derbyshire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire.md) · [We Are Doomed](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire/we-are-doomed.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire/we-are-doomed/all-good-ideas.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > The remarkable thing about the Diversity cult is that all the circumstances of the actual human world refute its tenets, wherever we look. I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that there has never been an ideology so heartily and jealously embraced by all the main institutions of a society, that was at the same time so obviously at odds with the evidence of our senses. It is as if the entire Western world had committed itself to the belief that human beings can fly by flapping their arms. [John Derbyshire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire.md) · [We Are Doomed](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire/we-are-doomed.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-derbyshire/we-are-doomed/the-remarkable-thing.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [diversity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/diversity.md) > And of course that is the problem with all truly powerful ideas. And what we have been talking of is certainly that. What it produces is illuminated by it. But applied where it does not pertain, it produces distortions as terrifying as the idea was powerful. [Samuel R. Delany](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany.md) · [Tales of Neveryon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/tales-of-neveryon.md) · p. 87 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/tales-of-neveryon/and-of-course.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > 'You still believe in progress,' she said kindly. 'I'd forgotten there were people who did. It's your substitute for religion. Your tribal totem is the yardstick. But we've transcended all that. No first-rate mind can accept the concept of progress any more.' [Mary McCarthy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-mccarthy.md) · [The Group](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-mccarthy/the-group.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-mccarthy/the-group/you-still-believe.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > You cannot impose ideologies on people who do not embrace it wholeheartedly. [Peter F. Hamilton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-f-hamilton.md) · [The Neutronium Alchemist](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-f-hamilton/the-neutronium-alchemist.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-f-hamilton/the-neutronium-alchemist/you-cannot-impose.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > Virtually all ideologues, of any variety, are fearful and insecure, which is why they are drawn to ideologies that promise prefabricated answers for all circumstances. [Jane Jacobs](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-jacobs.md) · [Dark Age Ahead](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-jacobs/dark-age-ahead.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-jacobs/dark-age-ahead/virtually-all-ideologues.md) Topics: [fear](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear.md), [fanaticism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > As for really new ideas of any kind—no matter how ultimately profitable or otherwise successful some of them might prove to be—there is no leeway for such chancy trial, error and experimentation in the high-overhead economy of new construction. Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings. [Jane Jacobs](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-jacobs.md) · [The Death and Life of Great American Cities](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-jacobs/the-death-and-life-of-great-american-cities.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-jacobs/the-death-and-life-of-great-american-cities/as-for-really.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [cities](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cities.md), [architecture](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/architecture.md) > Even if the vast majority of them are wrong, even if ninety-nine of every hundred is stupid and wrong, out of ten thousand ideas that still leaves them with a hundred good ones. That’s how they make up for being so stupid and having such short lives and small memories. [Orson Scott Card](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card.md) · [Xenocide](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/xenocide.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/xenocide/even-if-the.md) Topics: [stupidity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > Ideas, aspirations, and objectives that, by their content, transcend the established universe of discourse and action are either repelled or reduced to terms of this universe. [Herbert Marcuse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse.md) · [One-Dimensional Man](https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man.md) · p. 12 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man/ideas-aspirations-and.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > The fact that political ideologies are tangible realities is not a proof of their vitally necessary character. The bubonic plague was an extraordinarily powerful social reality, but no one would have regarded it as vitally necessary. [Wilhelm Reich](https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich.md) · [The Mass Psychology of Fascism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich/the-mass-psychology-of-fascism.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich/the-mass-psychology-of-fascism/the-fact-that.md) Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > The unreal is more powerful than the real. Because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. Because it's only intangibles, ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. Stone crumbles. Wood rots. People, well, they die. But things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on. If you can change the way people think. The way they see themselves. The way they see the world. You can change the way people live their lives. That’s the only lasting thing you can create. [Chuck Palahniuk](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk.md) · [Choke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/choke.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/choke/the-unreal-is-more.md) Topics: [imagination](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/imagination.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > No sacrifice is lost for a great ideal! (p. 135) [Emma Goldman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emma-goldman.md) · [Living My Life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emma-goldman/living-my-life.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emma-goldman/living-my-life/no-sacrifice-is-lost.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [sacrifice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sacrifice.md) > An idea is a thought. It's a thought that holds more than you think it does when you receive it. But in that first moment there is a spark. In a comic strip, if someone gets an idea, a lightbulb goes on. It happens in an instant, just as in life. > > It would be great if the entire film came all at once. But it comes, for me, in fragments. That first fragment is like the Rosetta stone. It's the piece of the puzzle that indicates the rest. It's a hopeful puzzle piece. > > In Blue Velvet, it was red lips, green lawns, and the song — Bobby Vinton's version of "Blue Velvet". The next thing was an ear lying in a field. And that was it. > > You fall in love with the first idea, that little tiny piece. And once you've got it, the rest will come in time. [David J. Lynch](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-j-lynch.md) · [Catching the Big Fish](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-j-lynch/catching-the-big-fish.md) · p. 23 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-j-lynch/catching-the-big-fish/an-idea-is-a-thought.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [creativity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/creativity.md) > Ideas are like fish. > > If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you've got to go deeper. > > Down deep, the fish are more powerful and more pure. They're huge and abstract. And they're very beautiful. [David J. Lynch](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-j-lynch.md) · [Catching the Big Fish](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-j-lynch/catching-the-big-fish.md) · p. 1 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-j-lynch/catching-the-big-fish/ideas-are-like.md) Topics: [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [creativity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/creativity.md) > The person who takes the banal and ordinary and illuminates it in a new way can terrify. We do not want our ideas changed. We feel threatened by such demands. "I already know the important things!" we say. Then Changer comes and throws our old ideas away. [Frank Herbert](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert.md) · [Chapterhouse: Dune](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/chapterhouse-dune.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/chapterhouse-dune/the-person-who.md) Topics: [fear](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear.md), [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > With all the artillery, ships and manpower in the military, our commanders often forget that ideas can be the greatest weapon of all. [Frank Herbert](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert.md) · [Dune](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/with-all-the.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > Thoughts become weapons. Philosophies are distinct reasons for war. Good intentions are the most destructive arsenal of all. [Frank Herbert](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert.md) · [Dune](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/thoughts-become-weapons.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [good intentions](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/good-intentions.md) > General ideas are no proof of the strength, but rather of the insufficiency of the human intellect. [Alexis de Tocqueville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville.md) · [Democracy in America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/general-ideas-are.md) Topics: [intelligence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/intelligence.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > The genius of democracies is seen not only in the great number of new words introduced but even more in the new ideas they express. [Alexis de Tocqueville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville.md) · [Democracy in America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/the-genius-of-democracies.md) Topics: [language](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/language.md), [democracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > That's all the motorcycle is, a system of concepts worked out in steel. There's no part in it, no shape in it, that is not out of someone's mind [Robert M. Pirsig](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig.md) · [Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/thats-all-the.md) Topics: [technology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes - an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive, and the most ruthlessly skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense. The collective enterprise of creative thinking and skeptical thinking, working together, keeps the field on track. Those two seemingly contradictory attitudes are, though, in some tension. [Carl Sagan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan.md) · [The Demon-Haunted World](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-demon-haunted-world.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-demon-haunted-world/at-the-heart.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [skepticism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/skepticism.md) > In any case, we do not advance the human cause by refusing to consider ideas that make us frightened. [Carl Sagan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan.md) · [Broca's Brain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain.md) · p. 364 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain/in-any-case.md) Topics: [fear](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > The well-meaning contention that all ideas have equal merit seems to me little different from the disastrous contention that no ideas have any merit. [Carl Sagan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan.md) · [Broca's Brain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain/the-well-meaning-contention.md) Topics: [criticism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/criticism.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > It wasn't the New World that mattered ... Columbus died almost without seeing it; and not really knowing what he had discovered. It's life that matters, nothing but life — the process of discovering, the everlasting and perpetual process, not the discovery itself, at all. But what's the use of talking! I suspect that all I'm saying now is so like the usual commonplaces that I shall certainly be taken for a lower-form schoolboy sending in his essay on "sunrise", or they'll say perhaps that I had something to say, but that I did not know how to "explain" it. But I'll add, that there is something at the bottom of every new human thought, every thought of genius, or even every earnest thought that springs up in any brain, which can never be communicated to others, even if one were to write volumes about it and were explaining one's idea for thirty-five years; there's something left which cannot be induced to emerge from your brain, and remains with you forever; and with it you will die, without communicating to anyone perhaps the most important of your ideas. But if I too have failed to convey all that has been tormenting me for the last six months, it will, anyway, be understood that I have paid very dearly for attaining my present "last conviction." This is what I felt necessary, for certain objects of my own, to put forward in my "Explanation". However, I will continue. [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky.md) · [The Idiot](https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/the-idiot.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/the-idiot/it-wasnt-the.md) Topics: [meaning of life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > 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 Gaiman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman.md) · [American Gods](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods/gods-die-and.md) Topics: [death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [mythology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mythology.md) > Ideas should be neutral. But man animates them with his passions and folly. Impure and turned into beliefs, they take on the appearance of reality. The passage from logic is consummated. Thus are born ideologies, doctrines, and bloody farce. [Emil Cioran](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran.md) · [A Short History of Decay](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay/ideas-should-be-neutral.md) Topics: [fanaticism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > He will not be feted as a charming man, but every one will like him without knowing why; no one will praise his intellect, but every one will be ready to make him the judge between men of intellect; his own intelligence will be clear and limited, his mind will be accurate, and his judgment sane. As he never runs after new ideas, he cannot pride himself on his wit. I have convinced him that all wholesome ideas, ideas which are really useful to mankind, were among the earliest known, that in all times they have formed the true bonds of society, and that there is nothing left for ambitious minds but to seek distinction for themselves by means of ideas which are injurious and fatal to mankind. [Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.md) · [Emile; or On Education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/he-will-not.md) Topics: [reason](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > At first our pupil had merely sensations, now he has ideas; he could only feel, now he reasons. For from the comparison of many successive or simultaneous sensations and the judgment arrived at with regard to them, there springs a sort of mixed or complex sensation which I call an idea. The way in which ideas are formed gives a character to the human mind. The mind which derives its ideas from real relations is thorough; the mind which relies on apparent relations is superficial. He who sees relations as they are has an exact mind; he who fails to estimate them aright has an inaccurate mind; he who concocts imaginary relations, which have no real existence, is a madman; he who does not perceive any relation at all is an imbecile. Clever men are distinguished from others by their greater or less aptitude for the comparison of ideas and the discovery of relations between them. Simple ideas consist merely of sensations compared one with another. Simple sensations involve judgments, as do the complex sensations which I call simple ideas. In the sensation the judgment is purely passive; it affirms that I feel what I feel. In the percept or idea the judgment is active; it connects, compares, it discriminates between relations not perceived by the senses. That is the whole difference; but it is a great difference. Nature never deceives us; we deceive ourselves. [Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.md) · [Emile; or On Education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/at-first-our.md) Topics: [thinking](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [self-deception](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-deception.md) > Science is a cemetery of dead ideas, even though life may issue from them. [Miguel de Unamuno](https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno.md) · [Tragic Sense of Life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/science-is-a-cemetery.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > Thinking, meditating, imagining are not anomalous acts – they are the normal respiration of the intelligence. To glorify the occasional exercise of that function, to treasure beyond price ancient and foreign thoughts, to recall with incredulous awe what some doctor universalis thought, is to confess our own languor, or our own barbarie. Every man should be capable of all ideas, and I believe that in the future he shall be. [Jorge Luis Borges](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jorge-luis-borges.md) · [The Garden of Forking Paths](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jorge-luis-borges/the-garden-of-forking-paths.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jorge-luis-borges/the-garden-of-forking-paths/thinking-meditating-imagining.md) Topics: [thinking](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking.md), [imagination](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/imagination.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > There's nothing clever that hasn't been thought of before — you've just got to try to think it all over again. [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe.md) · [Maxims and Reflections](https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/maxims-and-reflections.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/maxims-and-reflections/theres-nothing-clever.md) Topics: [thinking](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > The time of big theories was the time of big results. In the era of sentiment and fine words, at the end of the eighteenth century, men were really robust and effective. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/the-time-of-big.md) Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md) > He was suddenly struck by an idea so brilliant that he was quite sure it could not possibly work. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke.md) · p. 166 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/he-was-suddenly.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [ideas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas.md), [pessimism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pessimism.md)