Anthony Doerr Quotes

Knowledge is a polite word for dead but not buried imagination.

You have to imagine it possible before you can see something. You can have the evidence right in front of you, but if you can't imagine something that has never existed before, it's impossible.

I love to get inspiration from everywhere.

When something comes to my brain, I don't ignore it. You never know what it's going to turn into.

The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.

Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.

Take advantage of the ambiguity in the world. Look at something and think what else it might be.

I like people who can see what other people can't yet imagine.

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!

As a creative person, you want to start with a blank canvas.

Companies have too many experts who block innovation. True innovation really comes from perpendicular thinking.

Well, I think that as a country, we've drifted away from appreciating the importance of imagination.

Somebody can say they don't understand why somebody drifts. But I've always found people who drift interesting, 'cause it shows me the game's not stagnant in their own head. They're thinking.

No amount of skillful invention can replace the essential element of imagination.

I believe that anything in this world is fair game for a creative exercise.

I enjoy thinking about ways to create something that other people have not even thought about, something no one has managed to achieve.

My own way of thinking is very conservative, very linear and not particularly imaginative, but if I look for things in different places, sometimes things happen.

I discovered that my imagination came alive when I moved away from the immediate world around me.

The best way to renew thought is to go outside the human imagination.

Letting your mind play is the best way to solve problems.

Your mind is a free port. There are no customs house officers to examine the cargoes that are unladen.

I'm really bad with answering questions. Usually, I don't even answer them. I try to find inspiration inside of the question. I think, and I jump from one beam of inspiration or energy to the next, as opposed to explaining the energy.

I don't think in a box. I think in a sphere.

If you want people to think out of the box, you shouldn't create the box in the first place.

Sometimes a crazy idea can make something special.