I found you essay to be good and original. However, the part that was original was not good and the part that was good was not original.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Innovation is fostered by information gathered from new connections; from insights gained by journeys into other disciplines or places; from active, collegial networks and fluid, open boundaries. Innovation arises from ongoing circles of exchange, where information is not just accumulated or stored, but created. Knowledge is generated anew from connections that weren’t there before.
—Margaret J. Wheatley American Management Consultant, Writer
Some people come into our lives and quickly go.
Some people move our souls to dance.
They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom.
Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon.
They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, nd we are never ever the same.
—Flavia Weedn
The true is inimitable, the false untransformable.
—Robert Bresson (1907–99) French Film Director
When there is an original sound in the world, it makes a hundred echoes.
—John Augustus Shedd (1858–1931) American Author
It’s easier to be original and foolish than original and wise.
—Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) German Rationalist Philosopher, Mathematician
The greatness of art is not to find what is common but what is unique.
—Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–91) Polish-born American Children’s Books Writer, Novelist, Short Story Writer
Nearly all our originality comes from the stamp that time impresses upon our sensibility.
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) French Poet, Art Critic, Essayist, Translator
Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.
—Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time.
—Bill Gates (b.1955) American Businessperson, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Author
When a work appears to be ahead of its time, it is only the time that is behind the work.
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French Poet, Playwright, Film Director
An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents; it rarely happens that Saul becomes Paul. What does happen is that it opponents gradually die out and that the growing generation is familiarized with the idea from the beginning.
—Max Planck (1858–1947) German Theoretical Physicist
Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
I see nothing in it new and valuable. What is valuable is not new, and what is new is not valuable.
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American Statesman, Lawyer
All cases are unique and very similar to others.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
He that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils: for Time is the greatest innovator: and if Time, of course, alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end?
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
The more intelligent one is, the more men of originality one finds. Ordinary people find no difference between men.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
Fashion is something barbarous, for it produces innovation without reason and imitation without benefit.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Innovation by definition will not be accepted at first. It takes repeated attempts, endless demonstrations, monotonous rehearsals before innovation can be accepted and internalized by an organization. This requires ‘courageous patience’.
—Warren Bennis (1925–2014) American Business Academic, Author
Men often applaud an imitation and hiss the real thing.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
Perhaps our originality manifests itself most strikingly in what we do with that which we did not originate. To discover something wholly new can be a matter of chance, of idle tinkering, or even of the chronic dissatisfaction of the untalented.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Science advances funeral by funeral.
—Max Planck (1858–1947) German Theoretical Physicist
Most new things are not good, and die an early death; but those which push themselves forward and by slow degrees force themselves on the attention of mankind are the unconscious productions of human wisdom, and must have honest consideration, and must not be made the subject of unreasoning prejudice.
—Thomas Brackett Reed (1839–1902) American Politician, Lawyer
Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service. It is capable of being presented as a discipline, capable of being learned, capable of being practiced. Entrepreneurs need to search purposefully for the sources of innovation, the changes and their symptoms that indicate opportunities for successful innovation. And they need to know and to apply the principles of successful innovation.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
Innovators are inevitably controversial.
—Eva Le Gallienne (1899–1991) British-born American Stage Actress
No one asks you to throw Mozart out of the window. Keep Mozart. Cherish him. Keep Moses too, and Buddha and Lao Tzu and Christ. Keep them in your heart. But make room for the others, the coming ones, the ones who are already scratching on the window-panes.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
To innovate is not to reform.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.—The most original writers borrowed one from another. The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbor’s kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Begin with another’s to end with your own.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
Create your own method. Don’t depend slavishly on mine. Make up something that will work for you! But keep breaking traditions, I beg you.
—Constantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
As the births of living creatures, at first, are ill-shapen: so are all Innovations, which are the births of time.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Anyone who has invented a better mousetrap, or the contemporary equivalent, can expect to be harassed by strangers demanding that you read their unpublished manuscripts or undergo the humiliation of public speaking, usually on remote Midwestern campuses.
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b.1941) American Social Critic, Essayist
It is a matter of perfect indifference where a thing originated; the only question is: “Is it true in and for itself?”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) German Philosopher
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.
—Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Everything has been said, and we have come too late, now that men have been living and thinking for seven thousand years and more.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
The original is unfaithful to the translation.
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine Writer, Essayist, Poet
We are obliged to regard many of our original minds as crazy at least until we have become as clever as they are.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
Pure innovation is more gross than error.
—George Chapman (c.1560–1634) English Poet, Playwright
All good things which exist are the fruits of originality.
—John Stuart Mill (1806–73) English Philosopher, Economist
A society made up of individuals who were all capable of original thought would probably be unendurable.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
I believe in being an innovator.
—Walt Disney (1901–66) American Entrepreneur
An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate.
—Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand (1768–1848) French Writer, Academician, Statesman
The most original authors are not so because they advance what is new, but because they put what they have to say as if it had never been said before.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Entrepreneurs innovate. Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. It is the act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
No one can be profoundly original who does not avoid eccentricity.
—Andre Maurois (1885–1967) French Novelist, Biographer
You let me throw the bricks through the front window. You go in at the back and take the swag.
—Ezra Pound (1885-1972) American Poet, Translator, Critic
Innovation! One cannot be forever innovating. I want to create classics.
—Coco Chanel (1883–1971) French Fashion Designer
Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.
—Laurence J. Peter (1919–90) Canadian-born American Educator, Author