Scarlett Thomas Quotes

Publishers just want you to write the same book over and over again. But why would I want to do that? It would be like putting on a threadbare dressing-gown day after day.

What I think is interesting is that the more you do, you have to invent a book of rules of what you can do and what you can't do. And the very real danger is that if your book of rules becomes a book of cliches.

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 It is also out of date.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.

I should probably confess that I get bored easily, which explains my reluctance to work with formula, tropes, whatever.

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

I fear becoming formulaic. Some of my books are.

For every person who can imagine a possibility there are tens of thousands who are stuck in the greased grooves of history.

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

Ideation is not a synonym for innovation, conformity is not its simple antonym, and innovation is not the automatic consequence of "creative thinking.".

Being creative isn't confined to a specific set of professions -- everyone can and should be innovative.

Creative thought must always contain a random component.

The human spirit lives on creativity and dies in conformity and routine.

Now in creative thought common sense is a bad master. Its sole criterion for judgement is that the new ideas shall look like the old ones. In other words it can only work by suppressing originality.

I hate repetition, I really do. It's like asking a painter to paint the same picture every day of his life.

If somebody is young and brilliant and imaginative, he will be listened to, even if he is a little unorthodox.

I watch people who are not driven by creativity any more, and I think how dull it must be to produce the same kind of thing. If you don't feel you're reaching something new, then don't do it.

Fear, conformity, immorality: these are heavy burdens. They drain us of creative energy. And when we are drained of creative energy, we do not create. We procreate, but we do not create.

I think the idea of art kills creativity.

Rules and models destroy genius and art.

You can't just play the same thing, over and over again.

Honestly, as a director, at least for me, if I start doing the same thing over and over again, I'm going to get bored really quickly.

Work is the opposite of creativity.

People put limitations on their creativity, believing they have to rely on what they know and what they have done.

Creativity seldom thrives in an atmosphere of great discipline or scrutiny. That's one reason we tend not to want our leaders to get too creative.

The idea of doing something that you've seen a thousand times before doesn't appeal to me.