Chase, Chance, and Creativity Quotes

“Chance I is completely impersonal; you can’t influence it.

Chance II favors those who have a persistent curiosity about many things coupled with an energetic willingness to experiment and explore.

Chance III favors those who have a sufficient background of sound knowledge plus special abilities in observing, remembering, recalling, and quickly forming significant new associations.

Chance IV favors those with distinctive, if not eccentric hobbies, personal lifestyles, and motor behaviors.”
― James H. Austin, Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty

“The evidence that creative men demonstrate a high degree of “masculine-associated” traits such as assertiveness, confidence, determination, ambition, and drive for power, while at the same time having a greater than average incidence of “feminine” interests, suggests that it is a wedding of the necessary sensitivity and intuition together with purposive action and determination that is conducive to creativeness.8 The creative man may be less constrained to deny the side of his nature, viewed as feminine in our football-oriented culture, that reflects an openness to emotions and feelings and considerable self-awareness.”
― James H. Austin, Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty

“Perhaps we remember them, too, because their lives show us how malleable our own futures are. In their work we perceive how many loopholes fate has left us—how much of destiny is still in our own hands. In them, we see that nothing is predetermined. Chance can be on our side, if we but stir it up with our energies, stay receptive to its every random opportunity, and continually provoke it by individuality in our hobbies, attitudes, and our approach to life.”
― James H. Austin, Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
― James H. Austin, Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty

“Experimental ideas are very often born by chance as a result of fortuitous observations.”
― James H. Austin, Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty