Dear jackbe,
As you’ll notice throughout the review of quotes, there are some
places where I mentioned, that other works could be also interpreted
as relating to creation and the creative process. Originally, I come
from the fields of Social and Religious Studies. In these disciplines,
which are of course intertwined with philosophy, you could see that
creation and the creative process is linked to generating forces, such
as god(s) in theological thought, or in other cases in later social
philosophy – “human spirit”, “ratio”, and even “material conditions”
(Marx, who else?). Philosophy, when it is expressively a “religious”
philosophy and also when it is not, deals with these questions – and
it is not surprising, though – that much more could be found, and
probably would be – by commentators to this. In addition, some of the
quotes here might refer not to human creativity – but to divine one,
although I tried to weed those out.
Moreover, and that’s another problem – there are several sites that
gather quotes that refer to creativity (I mentioned them bellow). The
problem is, that these sites publish many inspirational quotes that
have nothing (in my opinion) with creativity, the creative process or
the creative mind, but are “inspirational quotes” in general. Last
note refers to the sources of these quotes. I usually toiled to find
the original source of the quote (which is why it took me so many
days..). However, in few cases, where the quote is well known and
attributed to that person, but I was unable to find the exact location
of the quotation in their writing, I mentioned the quotations
collection, from which it was taken.
Please note, that there are two recurring themes in references of many
philosophers to the issue of creativity. The first is, that innovation
relies on existent (but somewhat and so far neglected sources); the
other is that necessity yields the opportunities for creativity at its
best.
Early Eastern Philosophy
==================
Although you haven’t mentioned whether you want non-Western philosophy
as well, I thought it would be in place to bring some Lao Tzu (b.
circa 570 BCE - ?).
One of the quotes that are attributed to Lao Tzu, is "To see things in
the seed, that is genius." However, I couldn’t find a source that
indicates the origin of this quote beyond quote collections. Another
such attributed quotation, is “As soon as you have made a thought,
laugh at it”.
A later Chinese philosopher, Mencius (371BC-289BC), is attributed to
have written:
“Let not a man do what his sense of right bids him not to do, nor
desire what it forbids him to desire. This is sufficient. The skillful
artist will not alter his measures for the sake of a stupid workman.”
The First Greek Philosophers and Creativity
===============================
Nietzsche attributed the beginning of creative thinking to the
pre-Socratic philosophers, and especially to Thales. One of the most
prominent of the earliest philosophers in regards to the issue of
creativity and the creative process is Heraclitus of Ephesus
(535?BC-475?BC). In fact, these observations are so central to his
work, that a book titled , “Expect the Unexpected (Or You Won't Find
It): A Creativity Tool Based on the Ancient Wisdom of Heraclitus” (by
Roger Von Oech).
Few Heraclitus quotes on the subject:
“If one does not expect the unexpected one will not find it out, since
it is not to be searched out, and is difficult to compass.” (Fragment
18, Clement Strom. II, 17, 4 , G.S.Kirk, J.E.Raven,M.Schofield., 'The
Presocratic Philosophers', A Critical History with a selection of
texts, Second Edition, Cambridge University Press [1995] , quoted in
Giannis Stamatellos , “Heraclitus”
http://www.forthnet.gr/presocratics/heracln.htm).
Another, indirect quote, is pretty known is association with
Heraclitus. Plato writes that “Heraclitus somewhere says that all
things are in process and nothing stays still, and likening existing
things to the stream of a river he says that you would not step twice
into the same river” (Plato Cratylus 402a, G.S.Kirk,
J.E.Raven,M.Schofield., 'The Presocratic Philosophers', A Critical
History with a selection of texts, Second Edition, Cambridge
University Press [1995] , quoted in Giannis Stamatellos , “Heraclitus”
http://www.forthnet.gr/presocratics/heracln.htm)
Von Oech attributes the sentence "So deep is the creative spirit that
you will never discover its limits even if you search every trail," To
Heraclitus, but I haven’t found the source of this quote.
Many other quotes by Heraclitus could be interpreted as related to
interpretations of creation. For example, his observation that “War is
the father of all and king of all, and some he shows as gods, others
as men; some he makes slaves, others free” (Fragment 53,Hippolytus
Ref. IX, 9, 4, G.S.Kirk, J.E.Raven,M.Schofield., 'The Presocratic
Philosophers', A Critical History with a selection of texts, Second
Edition, Cambridge University Press [1995] , quoted in Giannis
Stamatellos , “Heraclitus”
http://www.forthnet.gr/presocratics/heracln.htm), could be interpreted
as “war as the mother of creation”. Heraclitus stress on the
importance and centrality of change as the source of innovation and
life, and on the ever changing reality, could also be interpreted as
related to the issue of creativity.
Later Greek Philosophers
===================
In general, “The Greeks used their creative energies to explain
experience by recourse to history, tragedy, comedy, art and
architecture. But their creative energies were also used to "invent"
philosophy, defined as "the love of wisdom." In general, philosophy
came into existence when the Greeks discovered their dissatisfaction
with supernatural and mythical explanations of reality. Over time,
Greek thinkers began to suspect that there was a rational or logical
order to the universe.” (The History Guide, Lesson 8,
http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture8b.html).
In Plato’s “Apology” (sct. 21) he quotes Socrates (c470 BCE – c399
BCE):
“I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled [poets] to write their
poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in
seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without
knowing in the least what they mean.”
Plato himself (427 – 347 BCE) also referred to creativity and to the
creative process, in a full passage:
“Now, everything that becomes or is created must of necessity be
created by some cause, for without a cause nothing can be created. The
work of the creator, whenever he looks to the unchangeable and
fashions the form and nature of his work after an unchangeable
pattern, must necessarily be made fair and perfect; but when he looks
to the created only, and uses a created pattern, it is not fair or
perfect. Was the heaven then or the world, whether called by this or
by any other more appropriate name-assuming the name, I am asking a
question which has to be asked at the beginning of an enquiry about
anything-was the world, I say, always in existence and without
beginning? or created, and had it a beginning? Created, I reply, being
visible and tangible and having a body, and therefore sensible; and
all sensible things are apprehended by opinion and sense and are in a
process of creation and created. Now that which is created must, as we
affirm, of necessity be created by a cause. But the father and maker
of all this universe is past finding out; and even if we found him, to
tell of him to all men would be impossible. And there is still a
question to be asked about him: Which of the patterns had the
artificer in view when he made the world-the pattern of the
unchangeable, or of that which is created? If the world be indeed fair
and the artificer good, it is manifest that he must have looked to
that which is eternal; but if what cannot be said without blasphemy is
true, then to the created pattern. Every one will see that he must
have looked to, the eternal; for the world is the fairest of creations
and he is the best of causes. And having been created in this way, the
world has been framed in the likeness of that which is apprehended by
reason and mind and is unchangeable, and must therefore of necessity,
if this is admitted, be a copy of something (Source: Timaeus, 28a-29b,
29d-30c, translated by B. Jowett
http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/plato-creator.asp
).
Aristotle (384-322 BCE ) referred to the pain in creation, when he
wrote:
“Why is it that all those who have become eminent in philosophy or
politics or poetry or the arts are clearly of an atrabilious
temperament, and some of them to such an extent as to be affected by
diseases caused by black bile, as is said to have happened to Heracles
among the heroes? (Problemata XXX.1 953a10-14)”
Another philosopher, this time the Hermetic Plotinum (204-270 BCE),
said of creation:
“The process is like the unfolding of a seed, moving from simple
origin to termination in the world of sense, the prior always
remaining in its place, while begetting its successor from a store of
indescribable power - power that must not halt within the higher realm
. . but continue to expand until the universe of things reaches the
limit of its possibility, lavishing its vast resources on all its
creatures, intolerant that any one should have no share in it. Nothing
is debarred from participation in the Good, to the extent of its
receptivity. “ (As quoted in “Who was Plotinus?
“http://www.plotinus.com/who_was_plotinus.htm).
Seneca
======
There are several quotes that discuss creativity and are attributed to
the Roman stoic philosopher Seneca (The Youngr, 4 BCE – 65 AD).
“All art is but imitation of nature.” (Epistles, Book III, E65).
“"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is
because we do not dare that they are difficult."” (ibid).
“There is no great genius without some touch of madness." (ibid)
"Everything is the product of one universal creative effort. There is
nothing dead in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and
therefore the whole world appears to be a living organism."
Early Christian and Medieval Philosophy
===============================
One of the first Christian philosophers is quoted to have said:
“If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be
displeased by what you are. For where you are pleased with yourself
there you have remained. Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing.“
http://www.creativequotations.com/one/57.htm (as you can see, the
source is not clear).
However, most of St. Augustine work, by nature, is more theological
than philosophical, and mostly he attributes every creation to God.
Anucius Manlius Severinus Boethius, (480 to 526), another early
Christian philosopher, does not refer much to theological issues. He
wrote:
“I am about to lead you to true happiness, to the goal your mind has
dreamed of. But your vision has been so clouded by false images you
have not been able to reach it.” (Source: Book III, Prose 1,
John Scotus Eriugena, , 810 to 877 “The knowledge in the creative
wisdom is ... the primary and causal essence of the whole of creation
while the knowledge in the created nature .... subsists as the effect
of the higher knowledge ... in the human soul... This applies to all
the attributes which are observed [!] to be attached to the essences
of all creation .... : sensible species, quantities, places, times and
like attributes without which the essence cannot be understood.
(Division of Nature, E. 426,427; P.L. 779A,B), (Source: Gierer,
Alfred, Eriugena and Al Kindi, protagonists of Pro Scientific Cultural
Change” http://www.eb.tuebingen.mpg.de/emeriti/gierer/gie.pdf).
A later philosopher-theologian, William of Ockham (1285 to 1347),
wrote that “Plurality should not be posited without necessity.
(Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate.) [Scriptum in Librum
Primum Sententiarum, Opera Theologica, I (c. 1320), quoted in “All
Things William”, http://www.allthingswilliam.com/need.html).
As probably known to you, Muslim philosophy flourished in what we call
“The Middle Ages”. This is the high time of the Islamic Empire and its
thought. Al Kindi (801-873), mentioned before, is one of the earliest
Arab philosophers. His concept on creativity could be summarized in
the following quote:
“It is good ... that we endeavour in this book, as is our habit in all
subjects, to recall that concerning which the Ancients have said
everything in the past, that is the easiest and shortest to adopt for
those who follow them, and to go further in those areas where they
have not said everything” (as quoted in Biography in Dictionary of
Scientific Biography (New York 1970-1990), by J J O'Connor and E F
Robertson, “Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Sabbah Al-Kindi”
http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Al-Kindi.html).
Al Ghazali, (1058 to 1111) , another great Muslim philosopher, this
time a Sufi mystic, said of music, :
"The purpose of music, considered in relation to God, is to arouse
longing for God, and passionate love for Him, and to produce states in
which God reveals Himself and His favor, which are beyond description
and known only by experience. These states are called ecstasy.”
"He who does not arrive at the Intuition of these Truths by means of
Ecstasy knows only the name of Inspiration."” (Inner Vision: Quotes
About Creativity, http://www.rainbowcrystal.com/news/creativityquotes.html).
The Jewish philosopher , Moses Maimonides, (1135 to 1204), could
belong to the abovementioned Islamic thinkers, as he spent his life in
Muslim countries. Quote:
“In the beginning we must simplify the subject, thus unavoidably
falsifying it, and later we must sophisticate away the falsely simple
beginning.”
The Beginning of Modern Period
=========================
Nicholas of Cusa (1401 to 1464) was influenced by the Muslim and
Jewish philosophers of the centuries that preceded his.
“`Elemental power is hidden in chaos and sensitive power is hidden in
vegetative power, and in that vegetative power the imaginative power,
in the imaginative power, the logical or rational, in the rational the
intelligential, in the intelligential, the intellectible, and in the
intellectible the Power of powers'' (On the Game of Spheres p. 111).
The English philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is quoted to have
said:
“He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time
is the greatest innovator.” (Source: "Essays," "Of Innovations,"
1597-1625).
On writing, he suggested:
“A man would do well to carry a pencil in his pocket and write down
the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought are commonly the
most valuable, and should be secured, because they seldom return.”(
“Rumination: Daydreaming And Nightdreaming”
http://www.henrietteklauser.com/html/wbsbexerpt.html)
Political philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)wrote in Leviathan:
“For after the object is removed or the eye shut, we still retain an
image of the things seen, though more obscure than when we see it...
Imagination, therefore, is nothing but decaying sense” (Of Man, Being
the First Part of Leviathan., Ch. 2,
http://www.bartleby.com/34/5/2.html).
René Descartes (1596 – 1650) said:
“One cannot conceive anything so strange and implausible that it has
not already been said by one philosopher or another.”
Enlightenment
===========
John Locke (1632-1704) wrote:
“New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any
reason but because they are not already common” (Source: "An Essay
Concerning Human Understanding.").
Referring specifically to the creative mind of artists, Jean de
LaBruyere (1645-1696) wrote:
“Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than
native wit to be an author.” (Source: Characters, "Of Books," aph. 3,
1688.).
The following is attributed to Voltaire (1694-1778):
" 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.”
(Source: Bartleby, http://www.bartleby.com/73/2080.html).
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778):
“General and abstract ideas are the source of the greatest errors of
mankind. […]
There are two things to be considered with regard to any scheme. In
the first place, "is it good in itself?" In the second, "Can it be
easily put into practice?" (Source: "Emile," Preface, 1762.).
The German philosopher Immanuel Kant
(1724-1804) referred to imagination and creative mind:
“Imagination is a powerful agent for creating, as it were, a second
nature out of the material supplied to it by actual nature.” (Source:
"The Critique of Judgment.").
The English Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) referred to creativity in
political agreements: “Whatever is now established, once was
innovation” (Source: A Fragment of Government).
19th Century
========
Another great German philosopher, Georg Hegel (1770-1831), wrote that
“The learner always begins by finding fault, but the scholar sees the
positive merit in everything.” (Source: "The Philosophy of Right,"
"The State," addition 160, 1821.).
The father of Liberalism, John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), warned, that
“That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the
time.” (On Liberty, ch. 3 (1859).).
In his opinion:
“Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character
has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has
generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigour,
and moral courage which it contained.” (ibid)
Another quote that is attributed to him:
“The great creative individual ... is capable of more wisdom and
virtue than collective man ever can be.” (Source: Creative Quotations
http://www.creativequotations.com/one/169.htm).
Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) wrote in his
journals:
“The paradox is really the pathos of intellectual life and just as
only great souls are exposed to passions it is only the great thinker
who is exposed to what I call paradoxes . . . - grandiose thoughts in
embryo.” (Source: "The Journals of Soren Kierkegaard: A Selection,"
no. 206, entry for 1838.).
Nietzsche
=======
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) referred on several occasions
to the issue of creativity:
All “it was” is a fragment, a riddle, a horrible accident—until the
creative will declares: “But thus I willed it! Thus shall I will it!”
(Friedrich Nietzsche, Sämtliche Werke: Kritische Studienausgabe, vol.
4, p. 181, eds. Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari, Berlin, de
Gruyter (1980). Zarathustra, in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Second Part,
“On Redemption,” (1883). According to Bartleby,
http://www.bartleby.com/66/26/42526.html).
“Actual philosophers ... are commanders and law-givers: they say “thus
it shall be!”, it is they who determine the Wherefore and Whither of
mankind, and they possess for this task the preliminary work of all
the philosophical labourers, of all those who have subdued the
past—they reach for the future with creative hand, and everything that
is or has been becomes for them a means, an instrument, a hammer.
Their “knowing” is creating, their creating is a lawgiving, their will
to truth is—will to power. Are their such philosophers today? Have
there been such philosophers? Must there not be such philosophers?”
(Source: Beyond Good and Evil, aph. 211 (1886). According to
Bartleby).
"All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking" (The Twilight
of the Idols (1888). Maxims and Missiles)
“One must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star.”
-Friedrich Neitzsche "Thus Spake Zarathustra."
http://users.compaqnet.be/cn127103/Nietzsche_thus_spake_zarathustra/pro5.html
Another quotation attributed to him:
“Many a man fails as an original thinker simply because his memory is
too good.”
Bartleby http://www.bartleby.com/100/769.html
Bartleby http://www.bartleby.com/100/769.9.html
20th Century Philosophers
=====================
The Objectivist “philosopher” (a bit exaggerated word in this case,
IMHO), Ayn Rand (1905 – 1982) has several quotes on creativity:
"Competition is a by-product of productive work, not its goal. A
creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire
to beat others. " (Source: The Moratorium on Brains).
Several quotes are attributed to Alfred North Whitehead (1861 to 1947)
:
"The 'silly' question is the first intimation of some totally new
development."
It requires a very unusual mind to make an analysis of the obvious.
Everything of importance has been said before by someone who did not
discover it.
(All could be found at Ariga Frosties
http://www.ariga.com/frosties/whiteheadalfrednorth.shtml ).
The Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955), on
creativity:
“He who wishes to teach us a truth should not tell it to us, but
simply suggest it with a brief gesture, a gesture which starts an
ideal trajectory in the air along which we glide until we find
ourselves at the feet of the new. (Source: "Meditations on Quixote,"
in "Preliminary Meditation," 1914.).
“We live at a time when man believes himself fabulously capable of
creation, but he does not know what to create.” (Source: "The Revolt
of the Masses," ch. 4, 1930.)
Suzanne K. Langer (1895-1985) was also much engaged in philosophical
thought on artistic creativity:
“The secret of "fusion" is the fact that the artist's eye sees in
nature . . . an inexhaustible wealth of tension, rhythms,
continuities, and contrasts which can be rendered in line and color.
(Source: In "Artists in Quotation," by Donna Ward La Cour, 1989.)
“Every artistic form reflects the dynamism that is constantly building
up the life of feeling.” (Source: In "Artists in Quotation," by Donna
Ward La Cour, 1989.).
“If a work of art is a projection of feeling, [its] kinship with
organic nature will emerge, no matter through how many
transformations, logically and inevitably. (In "Artists in Quotation,"
by Donna Ward La Cour, 1989.)
Art is the objectification of feeling. "Mind, An Essay on Human
Feeling," vol. 1, pt. 2, ch. 4, 1967.
A similar sentiment is expressed by Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962), who
wrote:
Ideas are refined and multiplied in the commerce of minds. In their
splendor, images effect a very simple communion of souls.
"The Poetics of Reverie," "Introduction," sct. 4, 1960, tr. 1969.
The British mathematician and philosopher, Bertrand Russell
(1872-1970) , wrote:
" Reason is a harmonising, controlling force rather than a creative
one. “
(Source: A Free Man’s Worship and Other Essays, ch. 2 (1976).,
Bartleby http://www.bartleby.com/66/65/47665.html).
Christian Philosophy
=============
French religious philosopher Simone Weil (1909-1943) wrote once, that:
The work of art which I do not make, none other will ever make it.
(Source: "The Notebooks of Simone Weil," 1951.).
An earlier religious philosopher is Jacques Maritain (1882–1973), who
wrote:
“The division between the useful arts and the fine arts must not be
understood in too absolute a manner. In the humblest work of the
craftsmen, if art is there, there is a concern for beauty, through a
kind of indirect repercussion that the requirements of the creativity
of the spirit exercise upon the production of an object to serve human
needs.”
(Source: Creative Intuition in Art and Poetry, Pantheon (1953).,
Bartleby http://www.bartleby.com/66/2/37902.html).
On the poetic experience:
“Poetic experience is distinct in nature from mystical experience.
Because poetry emanates from the free creativity of the spirit, it is
from the very start oriented toward expression, and terminates in a
word proffered, it wants to speak; whereas mystical because it
emanates from the deepest longing of the spirit bent on knowing, tends
of itself toward silence and internal fruition. Poetic experience is
busy with the created world and the enigmatic and innumerable
relations of existents with one another, not with the Principle of
Being.”
(Source: The Range of Reason, ch. 3, Scribner (1953)., Bartleby
http://www.bartleby.com/66/8/37908.html).
Post War Philosophy
===============
Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) wrote:
“A successful work of art is not one which resolves contradictions in
a spurious harmony, but one which expresses the idea of harmony
negatively by embodying the contradictions, pure and uncompromised, in
its innermost structure.“
"Cultural Criticism" 32
“Art is permitted to survive only if it renounces the right to be
different, and integrates itself into the omnipotent realm of the
profane. Culture is only true when implicitly critical, and the mind
which forgets this revenges itself in the critics it breeds. Criticism
is an indispensable element of culture.”
Perennial Fashion—Jazz,” Prisms (1967). (Bartleby:
http://www.bartleby.com/66/21/3021.html).
Postmodernist philosopher Michel Foucault (1926–1984) said, in an
interview:
“Sexuality is a part of our behavior. It’s part of our world freedom.
Sexuality is something that we ourselves create. It is our own
creation, and much more than the discovery of a secret side of our
desire. We have to understand that with our desires go new forms of
relationships, new forms of love, new forms of creation. Sex is not a
fatality; it’s a possibility for creative life. It’s not enough to
affirm that we are gay but we must also create a gay life.”
In Didier Eribon, Michel Foucault (1989, trans. 1991). “Sex, Power and
the Politics of Identity,” interview, October 1982, Advocate (Los
Angeles, August 7, 1984). Bartleby
http://www.bartleby.com/66/89/22889.html
****
That’s it, I hope you enjoyed this collection of quotes. Numerous
collections of quotes on creativity exist online:
Bartleby, mentioned before, and especially The Columbia World of
Quotations < http://www.bartleby.com/66/> is full of quotations, but
unfortunately, these are not sorted by the “profession” of the quoted
person.
Another good source that served me was Quotations for Creative
Thinking (Creative Quotations) http://creativequotations.com/ who
actually have a listing by profession of philosophers and thinkers
<http://creativequotations.com/p-phil.htm> , however – their sources
are not always the original quotation.
Rainbow’s suggestion in QuoteAmaze Philosophers, is also problematic
regarding original quotes, but has lots of information:
http://www.gocreate.com/QuotAmaze/qphi.htm
I of course searched the net myself for quotations. I used several
search strategies:
General search: “creative OR creativity” “quote OR quoted” and
“philosopher” ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22creative+OR+creativity%22+%22quote+OR+quoted%22+philosopher
Search for a specific name, and his or her quotations regarding
creativity (in this case, Heraclitus):
://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=heraclitus+creative+%22quote+OR+quoted%22&btnG=Google+Search
Search for a group or an era, in this case, “Greek Philosopher”:
://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=%22greek+philosopher%22+creativity+%22once+said+OR+wrote%22
I hope this answered your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarifications on this answer, before you rate/tip it. |
