James Lovelock Quotes

You always start with a fantasy. Part of the fantasy technique is to visualize something as perfect. Then with the experiments you work back from the fantasy to reality, hacking away at the components.

When I get an idea I start at once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements and operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial to me whether I run my turbine in my thought or test it in my shop. I even note if it is out of balance.

One rule of invention: before you can invent it, you have to imagine it.

I enjoy creating new ideas, working on new creative projects.

Imagination decides everything.

My training and my inclination is to invent.

Try out your ideas by visualizing them in action.

Creating something is all about problem-solving.

We should have more invention.

A designer is someone who constructs while he thinks, someone for whom planning and making go together.

Ah, the creative process is the same secret in science as it is in art. They are all the same absolutely.

We all dream things into being; you imagine yourself having a child, and then you have a child. An inventor will think of something in his mind and then make it actual. So things are often passing from the imagined realm into the real world.

The technical process which is interesting in it's own right but I think the creative process is what's more intriguing to me.

Prototyping is the conversation you have with your ideas.

I'm not a craftsman of graphics or art or film. I'm more of an idea generator and manufacturer.

Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation.

Everything, at first, is an idea, a special creation.

You can't buy something which does not exist. In a way, let's make things exist and then judge later. Don't cancel the process of creativity too early; let it flow.

Imagination is the air of mind.

When I studied graphic design, I learned a valuable lesson: There's no perfect answer to the puzzle, and creativity is a renewable resource.

Fundamental research is needed to make progress, which you cannot do solely by copying others. If you only do applied research, you quickly lose creativity.

I'm an inventor.

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but play is certainly the father.

I like to start with the ordinary, and then nudge it, and then think, 'What happens next, what happens next?'

As I see it, whoever's doing the inventing is also doing most of the learning - and probably having most of the fun.