Creativity Quotes

“The greatest killer of creativity is interruption. It pulls your mind away from what you want to be thinking about. Research has shown that, after an interruption, it can take eight minutes for you to return to your previous state of consciousness, and up to twenty minutes to get back into a state of deep focus.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“Most adults, by contrast, find it hard to be playful — no doubt because they have to take care of all the responsibilities that come with an adult’s life. Creative adults, however, have not forgotten how to play.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“New ideas are rather like small creatures. They’re easily strangled.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“When you’re being creative there is no such thing as a mistake.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“

But once it's been agreed when that real-world decision has to happen, why make it before the deadline arrives?

Why

Well, it would be foolish, because if you can wait longer, two incredibly important things may happen.:

You may get new information.

You may get new ideas.

So why would you make a decision when you don't need to?

”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“Getting discouraged is a total waste of your time.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“The key thing is to start, even if it feels as though you’re forcing yourself through an emotional roadblock.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“here’s my advice: get your panic in early! The good thing about panic is that it gives you energy.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“As Hindus say, the mind is like a chattering, drunken monkey.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“The second was that the creative architects always deferred making decisions for as long as they were allowed.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“Put simply, you can’t ask your unconscious a question, and expect a direct answer—a neat, tidy little verbal message.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“The Buddhists have a phrase for this—“Beginner’s Mind”—expressing how experience can be more vivid when it’s not dulled by familiarity.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“learning from something or someone you admire is not stealing. It’s called “being influenced by.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“So “borrow” an idea from someone you admire—an idea that really appeals to you personally.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“Tortoise Mind.” “Hare Brain.” They need each other. But keep them separate!”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“But perhaps the biggest interruption coming from your inside is caused by your worrying about making a mistake.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“The first was that the creative architects knew how to play.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“The anthropologist Gregory Bateson once said, “You can’t have a new idea ’til you’ve got rid of an old one.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“The trouble is that most people want to
be right. The very best people, however,
want to know if they’re right”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“But at the end of the day, you and only you must decide which criticisms and suggestions you accept.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“kill my darlings,”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“creativity plummets. This is because they think they have nothing more to learn.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“Sorry this is such a long letter, but I didn’t have time to write a shorter one.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“You can’t have a new idea ’til you’ve got rid of an old one.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

“The general principle is this: the bigger the leap, the longer the creative period is likely to be.”
― John Cleese, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide