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
A man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Originality consists in trying to be like everybody else—and failing.
—Raymond Radiguet (1903–23) French Novelist
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
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
The original is unfaithful to the translation.
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine Writer, Essayist, Poet
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
The innovation point is the pivotal moment when talented and motivated people seek the opportunity to act on their ideas and dreams.
—W. Arthur Porter (b.1941) American Engineer, Executive
Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.
—Laurence J. Peter (1919–90) Canadian-Born American Author
You have all the reason in the world to achieve your grandest dreams. Imagination plus innovation equals realization.
—Denis Waitley (1933–2025) American Speaker, Consultant, Self-help Pioneer
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
All good things which exist are the fruits of originality.
—John Stuart Mill (1806–73) English Philosopher, Economist
The true is inimitable, the false untransformable.
—Robert Bresson (1907–99) French Film Director
When you innovate, you’ve got to be prepared for everyone telling you you’re nuts.
—Larry Ellison (b.1944) American Entrepreneur
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
It’s been very important throughout my career that I’ve met all the guys I’ve copied, because at each stage they’ve said, “Don’t play like me, play like you.”
—Eric Clapton (b.1945) English Rock, Blues Guitarist
Men often applaud an imitation and hiss the real thing.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
To put away one’s own original thoughts in order to take up a book is a sin against the Holy Ghost.
—Barbara W. Tuchman (1912–89) American Historian, Journalist
The ridiculous rage for innovation, which only increases the weight of the chains it cannot break, shall never fire my blood!
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
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
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.
—Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Innovators are inevitably controversial.
—Eva Le Gallienne (1899–1991) British-born American Stage Actress
It’s easier to be original and foolish than original and wise.
—Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) German Rationalist Philosopher, Mathematician
Innovation is not the product of logical thought, although the result is tied to logical structure.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
A spirit of innovation is generally the result of a selfish temper and confined views. People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Since we live in an age of innovation, a practical education must prepare a man for work that does not yet exist and cannot yet be clearly defined.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
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
I believe in being an innovator.
—Walt Disney (1901–66) American Entrepreneur
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
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
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