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
Innovation is the process of turning ideas into manufacturable and marketable form.
—Watts Humphrey (1927–2010) American Software Engineer
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
Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.
—Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
You have all the reason in the world to achieve your grandest dreams. Imagination plus innovation equals realization.
—Denis Waitley (b.1933) American Motivational Speaker, 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
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
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
Begin with another’s to end with your own.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
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
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
The true is inimitable, the false untransformable.
—Robert Bresson (1907–99) French Film Director
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
All cases are unique and very similar to others.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
Dislike of innovation proceeds sometimes from the disgust excited by false humanity, canting hypocrisy, and silly enthusiasm.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
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
The original is unfaithful to the translation.
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine Writer, Essayist, Poet
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
All good things which exist are the fruits of originality.
—John Stuart Mill (1806–73) English Philosopher, Economist
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
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.
—Konstantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
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
It’s easier to be original and foolish than original and wise.
—Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) German Rationalist Philosopher, Mathematician
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 (1941–2022) American Social Critic, Essayist
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
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
Men often applaud an imitation and hiss the real thing.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
Science advances funeral by funeral.
—Max Planck (1858–1947) German Theoretical Physicist
Innovation! One cannot be forever innovating. I want to create classics.
—Coco Chanel (1883–1971) French Fashion Designer
Innovators are inevitably controversial.
—Eva Le Gallienne (1899–1991) British-born American Stage Actress
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