A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.
John F Kennedy, US President (1917-1963)
Between the idea
and the reality
falls the shadow.
T S Eliot, US/British poet, dramatist, critic (1888-1965)
Images
What concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are.
Epictetus, Greek philosopher (55-135 AD)
Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem. Most things are judged by their jackets.
Baltasar Gracián y Morales, Spanish philosopher, author (1601-1658)
We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.
Anais Nin, US author (1903-1977)
An image is not simply a trademark, a design, a slogan or an easily remembered picture. It is a studiously crafted personality profile of an individual, institution, corporation, product or service.
Daniel J Boorstin, US media author, historian (1914-2004)
The right name is an advertisement in itself.
Claude C Hopkins, US advertising pioneer (1866-1932)
Tell them it’s Old Crow. Then give them another taste of Old Crow, but tell them it’s Jack Daniels. Ask them which they prefer. They’ll think the drinks are quite different. They are tasting images.
David Ogilvy, US advertising executive, author (1911-1999)
There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.
Ansel Adams, US photographer (1902-1984)
Imagination
Imagination rules the world.
Napoleon Bonaparte, French soldier, statesman, revolutionary (1769-1821)
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Albert Einstein, German physicist (1879-1955)
Everything you can imagine is real.
Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter (1881-1973)
A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing with him the image of a cathedral.
Antoine De Saint-Exupéry, French author (1900-1944)
The man who has no imagination has no wings.
Muhammad Ali, US heavyweight boxing champion (b. 1942)
He who has imagination without learning has wings and no feet.
Joseph Joubert, French essayist, moralist (1754-1824)
Reason can answer questions, but imagination has to ask them.
Ralph Waldo Gerard, US psychologist, author (1900-1974)
Microsoft’s only factory asset is the human imagination.
Bill Gates, US computer engineer, entrepreneur (b. 1955)
What is now proved was once only imagined.
William Blake, British poet, painter, engraver (1757-1827)
Imagination is a quality given a man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humour was provided to console him for what he is.
Oscar Wilde, Irish dramatist, poet (1854-1900)
Imitation
No man ever yet became great by imitation.
Samuel Johnson, British poet, critic, lexicographer (1709-1784)
When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.
Eric Hoffer, US philosopher, author, longshoreman (1902-1983)
If you steal from one author, it’s plagiarism; if you steal from many, it’s research.
Wilson Mizner, US playwright, author (1876-1933)
We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves to be like other people.
Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (1788-1860)
The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use?
Dale Carnegie, US lecturer, author (1888-1955)
Individuality
Be Daring
Be First
Be Different.
Anita Roddick, British retail executive, founder of The Body Shop (1942-2007)
Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.
Erich Fromm, US psychologist, philosopher (1900-1980)
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, essayist (1856-1950)
Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of ‘crackpot’ than the stigma of conformity.
Thomas J Watson, US businessman, founder of IBM (1874-1956)
I used to think anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call others weird that are weird.
Paul McCartney, British musician, co-founder of The Beatles (b. 1942)
No one can possibly achieve any real and lasting success or get rich in business by being a conformist.
J Paul Getty, US industrialist (1892-1976)
Few great players make the transition into management. The reason is that great players are normally like soloists in an orchestra. They perform alone and tend to look down at team-mates with lesser ability.
Bob Paisley, British football manager (1919-1996)
Never play a thing the same way twice.
Louis Armstrong, US jazz musician (1900-1971)
In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.
Gabrielle Bonheur ‘Coco’ Chanel, French fashion designer (1883-1971)
You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are always flowing on to you.
Heraclitis, Greek philosopher (c. 535 – c. 475 BC)
I can’t stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession. Let alone two years or ten years. If you can, then it ain’t music, it’s close-order drill or exercise or yodelling or something, not music.
Eleanora Fagan, known as Billie Holiday, US jazz singer (1915-1959)
Innovation
The only sustainable competitive advantage comes from out-innovating the competition.
James Morse, US judge (b. 1940)
Always remember that someone, somewhere, is making a product that will make your product obsolete.