Cynthia Kenyon Quotes

I get curious about new things. My real strength is going into a field that has not been investigated before, and finding new approaches to it.

In any field, find the strangest thing and then explore it.

We’re taught to do things the right way. But if you want to discover something that other people haven’t, you need to do things the wrong way. Initiate a failure by doing something that’s very silly, unthinkable, naughty, dangerous. Watching why that fails can take you on a completely different path. It’s exciting, actually. To me, solving problems is a bit like a drug. You’re on it, and you can’t get off.

The secret to discovery is to never believe existing facts.

From the point of view of basic physics, the most interesting phenomena are, of course, in the new places, the places where the rules do not work - not the places where they do work! That is the way in which we discover new rules.

If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.

Since I was in my early twenties, at ABC, I was always only interested in things that were not already being done.

What really excites me in a project is when it goes in a way you haven't been before.

Definition is the death of discovery.

Making a moonshot is almost more an exercise in creativity than it is in technology.

I support basic research, which can lead to discoveries that change our world, expand our horizons and save lives.

We especially need imagination in science.

If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.

You have to be willing to ask questions that almost no one else would ask.

I made a film that was impossible to make, but I didn't know it was impossible, and that's how I was able to do it.

We are exploring creative models to pursue innovation outside the confines of our normal process, taking calculated risks and learning from them.

We value feeling over knowing, because you can't prove something that hasn't been done before.

With any new medium, the full power is only unearthed with experimentation.

There is no science in creativity. If you don't give yourself room to fail, you won't innovate.

More or less, I am always saying, 'Let's do what has not been done.'

Sometimes, not knowing what you're doing allows you to do things you never knew you could do.

Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search.

That's the tricky thing these days: being able to surprise people.

Science means constantly walking a tightrope between blind faith and curiosity; between expertise and creativity; between bias and openness; between experience and epiphany; between ambition and passion; and between arrogance and conviction - in short, between an old today and a new tomorrow.

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.