Dorothy L. Sayers Quotes

The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are perpetuated by quotations.

No one is original. Everyone is derivative.

Ideas are a capital that bears interest only in the hands of talent.

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all.

I've got research, I have my own life experience I can apply, and I have my imagination.

Unless one is a genius, it is best to aim at being intelligible.

Knowledge comes from the past, so it's safe. It is also out of date. It's the opposite of originality... Experience is the opposite of being creative.

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Less than fifteen per cent of the people do any original thinking on any subject. The greatest torture in the world for most people is to think.

Knowledge is a polite word for dead but not buried imagination.

The truth is, it is hard to know where ideas come from.

I believe intellect is needed in order to develop any creative output and that intellect alone is not enough!

I'm no innovator. If anything I'm a stealer, or borrower. I've stolen or borrowed from more people than you can shake a stick at.

Truth is the nursing mother of genius.

I think it's better to have ideas.

A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought.

There is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap.

I'm always cribbing from real life. I'm not a very creative filmmaker.

That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.

The human mind cannot create anything. It produces nothing until having been fertilized by experience and meditation; its acquisitions are the germs of its production.

My feeling is that as far as creativity is concerned, isolation is required. Creation is embarrassing. For every new good idea you have, there are a hundred, ten thousand foolish ones.

Really good original ideas are very hard to come up with. Good ideas - easy. Really good, original ideas - it can take months.

Without the little ideas, there are no big ideas.

It's difficult to get your creative juices flowing if you're always being practical, following rules, afraid to make mistakes, not looking into outside areas, or under the influence of any of the other mental locks.