Favorite Quotes from the book, Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer

1. Imagine: How Creativity Works
By Jonah Lehrer
Favorite Quotes
Captured By Josh Duncan
www.arandomjog.com

2. Every creative journey begins with a problem

3. It’s often only at this
point, after we’ve
stopped searching
for the answer, that
the answer arrives

4. The hardest work always comes after, when
you’re trying to make the idea real

5. We do some of our best thinking when we’re
half asleep

6. While it’s commonly assumed that the best way to solve a
difficult problem is to relentlessly focus, this clenched state of
mind comes with a hidden cost:
it inhibits the sort of creative connections that lead to
breakthroughs

7. The normal person classifies an object, and then
forgets about it. The creative person, by contrast,
is always open to new possibilities.

8. I think people need to be reminded that creativity is a verb, a very time-
consuming verb. It’s about taking an idea in your head, and transforming that
idea into something real.
And that’s always going to be a long and difficult process.

9. There’s just one problem with brainstorming:
it doesn’t work

10. Knowledge can be a subtle curse. When we
learn about the world, we also learn all the
reasons why the world cannot be changed.

11. Our findings show that debate and criticism
do not inhibit ideas but, rather, stimulate
them relative to every other condition.

12. Photo Credits
• Sleep - http://www.flickr.com/photos/mad_wraith/6328078372/sizes/l/in/photostream/
• Hammer -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/m2w2/191545978/sizes/o/in/photostream/
• Shower - http://www.flickr.com/photos/loop_oh/4739656352/sizes/o/in/photostream/
• Chicago - http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/217440037/sizes/l/in/photostream/
• Legos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ogimogi/2253657555/sizes/l/in/photostream/
• Notes - http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2542450115/sizes/l/in/photostream/
• Note pad - http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeoliveri/685358132/