Walter Isaacson Quotes

An original idea. That can't be too hard. The library must be full of them.

Geniuses don't have better ideas than the rest of us. They just have more of them.

Enterprise is first creativity. You need creativity to see what's out there and shape it to your advantage. You need creativity to look at the world a little differently. You need creativity to take a different approach, to be different.

If your mind is at work, we're in danger of reproducing another cliche. If we can keep our minds out of it and our thoughts out of it, maybe we'll come up with something original.

Creativity is putting your imagination to work, and it's produced the most extraordinary results in human culture.

One of the strongest characteristics of genius is the power of lighting its own fire.

There are no original ideas. There are only original people.

What is genius but the power of expressing a new individuality?

Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together.

I learn from Larry Ellison every day. I've said this before: how is it to work with someone who thinks out of the box? Larry doesn't see the walls at all; he does not see the box. He is an absolute, true visionary. And to be honest, I always find myself in a box! I'm comfy in my box. I've furnished it; it's lovely.

I would say that when you go to the very, very top, it's an ability to come up with new ideas, with something new, to make the difference. Every world champion, every player who was traversing this universe, managed to bring something new to the game. This ability to always find some unconventional ways. That makes the final difference.

Talent may frolic and juggle; genius realizes and adds.

When the poet Paul Valery once asked Albert Einstein if he kept a notebook to record his ideas, Einstein looked at him with mild but genuine surprise. "Oh, that's not necessary," he replied . "It's so seldom I have one.

... the genius never makes anything new, but always something that is just different, and the average talents provide him the possibility within which his genius condenses into achievements.

The source of genius is imagination alone.

I think it's a big part of being a creative person.

The words of genius have a wider meaning than the thought that prompted them.

Inspiration is the opportunity of genius.

Creativity allows people to be effective.

It is almost impossible to think of something no one has thought of before, but it is always possible to add different frills.

A popular author is one who writes what the people think. Genius invites them to think something else.

Giving calls for genius.

Original thinking migrates each day in search of nourishment.

I don't ever want to do anything that's obvious, and I also want to find ways to do things that are extremely new and exciting and can make sense in bizarre ways. I always want things to make sense in really bizarre ways.

Society develops wit, but its contemplation alone forms genius.