Alain de Botton Quotes

I had an immense advantage over many others dealing with the problem inasmuch as I had no fixed ideas derived from long-established practice to control and bias my mind, and did not suffer from the general belief that whatever is, is right.

Many venture capitalists say they're looking for the next big idea. But they aren't, really; they're looking for something derivative, because derivative is safe.

Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received--hatred. The great creators--the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors--stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed.

Big ideas come from forward thinking people who challenge the norm, think outside the box, and invent the world they see inside rather than submitting to the limitations of current dilemmas

There is nothing more powerful than a new idea in the hands of a social entrepreneur

I see people as the nucleus of a great idea that hasn't come to be yet.

A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules.

Risk taking and the drive to pursue innovative ideas are the fuel that stokes the entrepreneurial spirit.

The world makes way for the man with an idea.

One of the most difficult tasks of visioneering is distinguishing between good ideas and God ideas.

Creativity is a by-product of hard work. If I never have another really new idea, it won't matter.

Every great idea exerts, on first appearing, a tyrannical influence: Hence, the advantages it brings are turned all too soon into disadvantages.

The fact was I had the vision... I think everyone has... what we lack is the method.

Everyone wants a definition of creativity that makes what they do into something special and what everyone else does into nothing special. But the fact is, we're all creative. We come up with weird and interesting ideas all the time. The biggest difference between 'creators' isn't their imagination - it's how hard they work. Ideas are easy. Doing stuff is hard.

Never let money get in the way of an idea

The most powerful force in the world is a big idea- if it is the hands of a great entrepreneur.

Any idea can be a great idea if you think differently, dream big and commit to seeing it realized

Trust your intuition and be resilient. If you have real breakout ideas, even your friends will laugh at you secretly until you can prove their viability.

The source of genius is imagination alone, the refinement of the senses that sees what others do not see, or sees them differently.

The great successful men of the world have used their imaginations.

In business, what distinguishes leaders from laggards and greatness from mediocrity is the ability to uniquely imagine what could be.

Who wants to put together something that will bear some relationship to the vision or memory or experience or story or idea or dream or whatever.

Copying isn’t particularly creative work. Being inspired by someone else’s idea to produce something new and different IS creative work.

Money doesn't excite me - my ideas excite me.

Most of us have one big idea at some point in our lives. That Eureka! moment. It comes to us all in different ways, often by chance of serendipity.