Marguerite Gardiner Quotes

To see things in the seed, that is genius.

Through imagination, we can visit the past, contemplate the present, and anticipate the future. We can also do something else of profound and unique significance. We can create.

But genius looks forward: the eyes of men are set in his forehead, not in his hindhead: man hopes: genius creates.

Genius, like a torch, shines less in the broad daylight of the present than in the night of the past.

Genius always looks forward, and not only sees what is, but what necessarily will be.

Genius appeals to the future.

Wit is the god of moments, but Genius is the god of ages.

The book, the college, the school of art, the institution of any kind, stop with some past utterance of genius. . . . They look backward and not forward. But genius looks forward: the eyes of man are set in his forehead, not in his hindhead: man hopes: genius creates. Whatever talents may be, if the man create not, the pure efflux of the Deity is not his; - cinders and smoke there may be, but not yet flame.

There's a fine line between what would characterize you as a troglodyte and what would characterize you as a brilliant, avant-garde, forward-thinking genius. There's some middle ground.

As a designer looking to the future, you don't want to get lost in the archives.

I can understand when people copy people of the past and make the future their own.

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

No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time; it is just that others are behind the times.

Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm.

The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.

What seems like a crazy idea today eventually grows. It's a 'with hindsight' thing. One day, someone will turn around and say, 'That was genius.'

Talent perceives differences; genius, unity.

Genius is never understood in its own time.

When a work appears to be ahead of its time, it is only the time that is behind the work.

People of humor are always in some degree people of genius.

I'm not reinventing the wheel here. I'm not Chuck Berry or Bill Monroe. Guys like that are from outer space.

Genius always finds itself a century too early.

Creating work for the time that one lives in means no retro thinking. It can and hopefully does mean timelessness.

Creating the future is incredibly exciting. When you talk about ideas and creativity, it's really about having that vision in your mind of how the world could be better, of how it could be a brighter place.

Philip Glass once told me, "They can always copy what you've done, but they can't copy what you're going to do."