Motivational Quotes

Ideas

Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats.

- Howard Aiken

Best Quotes about Ideas

Everything begins with an idea.

Nightingale, Earl

It is not always by plugging away at a difficulty and sticking to it that one overcomes it; often it is by working on the one next to it. Some things and some people have to be approached obliquely, at an angle.

Gide, Andre

Many ideas are good for a limited time -- not forever.

Townsend, Robert

The difference between people and ideas is... only superficial.

Rorty, Richard

A new idea is like a child. It's easier to conceive than to deliver.

Koysis, Ted

The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.

Keynes, John Maynard

The point, simply, is that we are doing more rediscovering these days than discovering coming anew upon truths that ignorant people refused to examine, over the centuries, because the wise people who held custody of the fundamental truths of nature were unpopular.

Williamson, John

Harold, like the rest of us, had many impressions which saved him the trouble of distinct ideas.

Eliot, George

Once I thought ideas were exceptions not the rule. That is not so. Ideas are so plentiful that they ride by on air. You've only to reach out and snatch one...

Mckeun, Rod

10.

I'm not impressed with the power of a corporate president. I am impressed with the power of ideas.

Mason, Ken

11.

Ideas that enter the mind under fire remain there securely and for ever.

Trotsky, Leon

12.

Not just in commerce but in the world of ideas too our age is putting on a veritable clearance sale. Everything can be had so dirt cheap that one begins to wander whether in the end anyone will want to make a bid.

Kierkegaard, S°ren

13.

We are governed not by armies, but by ideas.

Caird, Mona

14.

It first appeared like a crazy idea. It turned out he had a great idea.

Munro, J. Richard

15.

Long is the road from conception to completion.

Moliere

16.

Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases: (1) It's completely impossible. (2) It's possible, but it's not worth doing. (3) I said it was a good idea all along.

Clarke, Arthur C.

17.

A good idea plus capable men cannot fail; it is better than money in the bank.

Berry, John

18.

An idea is never given to you without you being given the power to make it reality. You must, nevertheless, suffer for it.

Bach, Richard

19.

One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.

Walter Bagehot

20.

Ideas are, in truth, force.

James, Henry

21.

There is no adequate defense, except stupidity, against the impact of a new idea.

Bridgman, P. W.

22.

Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the unity of all things.

Dogen

23.

Ideas won't work unless you do.

24.

The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.

Pauling, Linus

25.

It is the nature of thought to find its way into action.

Bovee, Christian Nevell

26.

Labor gives birth to ideas.

Rohn, Jim

27.

Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one where they sprung up.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell

28.

An idea is worth nothing if it has no champion.

29.

An idea is the only level which moves the world.

Corey, Arthur F.

30.

No one has ever had an idea in a dress suit.

Sir Frederick G. Banting

31.

Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats.

Howard Aiken

32.

Man's mind, stretched by a new idea, never goes back to its original dimensions.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell

33.

It is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.

Keynes, John Maynard

34.

Lots of people know a good thing the minute the other fellow sees it first.

Hodges, Job E.

35.

Ideas move fast when their time comes.

Heilbrun, Carolyn

36.

If a man had as many ideas during the day as he does when he has insomnia, he would make a fortune.

Niblack, Griff

37.

Getting an idea should be like sitting down on a pin. It should make you jump up and do something.

Simpson, E. L.

38.

In Texas, years ago, almost all of the oil came from surface operations. Then someone got the idea that there were greater sources of supply deeper down. A well was drilled five thousand feet deep. The result? A gusher. Too many of us operate on the surface. We never go deep enough to find supernatural resources. The result is, we never operate at our best. More time and investment is involved to go deep but a gusher will pay off.

Montapert, Alfred A.

39.

It's easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will soon be out-of-date.

Oech, Roger Von

40.

Ideas are the roots of creation.

Dimnet, Ernest

41.

A crank is someone with a new idea -- until it catches on.

Twain, Mark

42.

It's a pretty good idea to be of good cheer but not all the time. Just at the most unexpected times.

43.

This is my answer to the gap between ideas and action - I will write it out.

Hortense Calisher

44.

When an idea reaches critical mass there is no stopping the shift its presence will induce.

Williamson, Marianne

45.

I said to myself, I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me - shapes and ideas so near to me - so natural to my way of being and thinking that it hasn't occurred to me to put them down. I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught.

Georgia O'Keeffe

46.

The idea is in my head to put it down is nothing.

Avery, Milton

47.

Brain cells create ideas. Stress kills brain cells. Stress is not a good idea.

Saunders, Richard

48.

Ideas are powerful things, requiring not a studious contemplation but an action, even if it is only an inner action. Their acquisition obligates each man in some way to change his life, even if it is only his inner life. They demand to be stood for. They dictate where a man must concentrate his vision. They determine his moral and intellectual priorities. They provide him with allies and make him enemies. In short, ideas impose an interest in their ultimate fate which goes far beyond the realm of the merely reasonable.

Decter, Midge

49.

To die for an idea; it is unquestionably noble. But how much nobler it would be if men died for ideas that were true!

H. L. Mencken

50.

I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.

John Cage