If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.
— Albert Einstein (1879–1955), German-born Physicist & Philosopher, Author of Out of My Later Years
Every time you meet somebody, you’re looking for a better and newer and bigger idea. You are open to ideas from anywhere.
–Jack Welch (b. 1935), American Business Executive & Author of Jack: Straight From The Gut and Winning
The man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.
–Mark Twain (1835–1910), American Author & Humorist, Author of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The rewards in business go to the man who does something with an idea.
–William Benton (1900–73), American Publisher, Businessman, Politician
Try this for a week: Each morning, spring out of bed at the first hint of light and focus first on the new and wondrous things that are just waiting to reveal themselves that day. Let curiosity well up inside of you. Let your mind open up to new ideas. Forget that you already know everything.
–Donna Kinni (b. 1961), American Author
The creative person wants to be a know-it-all. He wants to know about all kinds of things: ancient history, nineteenth-century mathematics, current manufacturing techniques, flower arranging, and hog futures. Because he never knows when these ideas might come together to form a new idea. It may happen six minutes later or six months or six years down the road. But he has faith that it will happen.
–Carl Ally (1924–99), American Advertising Executive
When it comes to organizational imagination, everyone is a point of light, inwardly afire with excellent ideas for making our companies work smarter, faster, leaner, and better. But as business leaders, we too seldom tap into our most valuable resource—the brain trust of our employees—to discover new pathways of progress and profits.
–Charles Decker (1961–2012), American Publisher
Inventors and men of genius have almost always been regarded as fools at the beginning (and very often at the end) of their careers.
–Feodor Dostoyevsky (1821–81), Russian novelist, Author of Crime and Punishment
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
–John Steinbeck (1902–68), American Novelist and author of Of Mice and Men
Keep on the lookout for novel ideas that others have used successfully. Your idea has to be original only in its adaptation to the problem you’re working on.
–Thomas Edison (1847–1931), American Inventor
No idea is so antiquated that it was not once modern. No idea is so modern that it will not someday be antiquated.
–Ellen Glasgow (1873–1945), American Novelist, Author of In This Our Life
To stay ahead, you must have your next idea waiting in the wings.
–Rosabeth Moss Kanter (b. 1942), American Academic, Author of Challenge of Organizational Change
Brainpower is now the greatest commodity we can contribute to the world. Democracy was never intended to be a breeding place for mediocrity. We must engage in the business of stimulating brainpower lest we fail in producing leaders of consequence. In a period of speed, space and hemispheric spasms we dare not treat new thoughts as if they were unwelcome relatives.
–Dean F. Berkley (1925–2009), American Academic
If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself. Also, you will have betrayed your community in failing to make your contribution.
–Rollo May (1909–94), American Psychologist
New ideas come from differences. They come from having different perspectives and juxtaposing different theories.
–Nicholas Negroponte (b. 1943), Greek-American Architect
Invention is the process by which a new idea is discovered or created. In contrast, innovation occurs when a new idea is adopted.
–Everett Rogers (1931–2004), American Sociologist
The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.
–Linus Pauling (1901–94), American Scientist
Ideas are a capital that bears interest only in the hands of talent.
–Antoine de Rivarol (1753–1801), French Journalist
The power of an idea can be measured by the degree of resistance it attracts.
–David Yoho (b. 1946), American Business Consultant
An idea is salvation by imagination.
–Frank Lloyd Wright (1869–1959), American Architect and author of The Natural House
Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.
–Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), German Poet & Statesman, Author of Maxims and Reflections
If you can dream it, you can do it.
–Walt Disney (1901–66), American Entrepreneur & Entertainer
There is no prosperity, trade, art, city, or great material wealth of any kind, but if you trace it home, you will find it rooted in a thought of some individual man.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82), American Philosopher and Essayist, Author of Self-Reliance
A great idea is usually original to more than one discoverer. Great ideas come when the world needs them. Great ideas surround the world’s ignorance and press for admission.
–Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844-1911), American Author of A Singular Life and other books
I’d climb into the car as it went down the assembly line and introduce myself. Then I’d ask for ideas.
–John Risk, American Automotive Engineer