100 Creative Thinking Quotes That Open New Possibilities
Creativity isn’t just for artists. It’s essential for leaders, strategists, and entrepreneurs alike.
It’s how problems get solved, opportunities get spotted, and ideas take shape.
These quotes highlight the importance of thinking outside the box and embracing your creative side.
Whether you’re brainstorming or building, let these words inspire your process.
Top Creative Thinking Quotes
Creativity is intelligence having fun. ~ Albert Einstein
The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas. ~ Linus Pauling
Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. ~ Edward de Bono
Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. ~ Steve Jobs
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. ~ Albert Einstein
Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value. ~ Ken Robinson
You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. ~ Maya Angelou
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. ~ Scott Adams
Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye. ~ Dorothy Parker
Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature. ~ Eric Hoffer
Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things. ~ Theodore Levitt
Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found. ~ James Russell Lowell
Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating. ~ John Cleese
Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected. ~ William Plomer
Creativity is the ability to see relationships where none exist. ~ Thomas Disch
Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm. ~ Earl Nightingale
Creativity is the greatest expression of liberty. ~ Bryant H. McGill
Creativity is the greatest rebellion in existence. ~ Osho
Creativity is a drug I cannot live without. ~ Cecil B. DeMille
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. ~ Albert Einstein
Innovative Thinking Quotes
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. ~ Steve Jobs
The best way to predict the future is to create it. ~ Peter Drucker
Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth. ~ Peter Drucker
If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got. ~ Albert Einstein
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Innovation is taking two things that exist and putting them together in a new way. ~ Tom Freston
There’s a way to do it better—find it. ~ Thomas Edison
Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time. ~ Bill Gates
Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity—not a threat. ~ Steve Jobs
The enterprise that does not innovate ages and declines. And in a period of rapid change such as the present, the decline will be fast. ~ Peter Drucker
Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things. ~ Theodore Levitt
Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity. ~ Michael Porter
The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones. ~ John Maynard Keynes
You can’t solve a problem on the same level that it was created. You have to rise above it to the next level. ~ Albert Einstein
Innovation comes from saying NO to 1,000 things. ~ Steve Jobs
If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it. ~ Albert Einstein
The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic. ~ Peter Drucker
Innovation is change that unlocks new value. ~ Jamie Notter
The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas. ~ Linus Pauling
Imagination is more important than knowledge. ~ Albert Einstein
Lateral Thinking Quotes
The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones. ~ John Maynard Keynes
You can’t solve a problem on the same level that it was created. You have to rise above it to the next level. ~ Albert Einstein
If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it. ~ Albert Einstein
Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. ~ Edward de Bono
The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas. ~ Linus Pauling
Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. ~ Steve Jobs
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. ~ Albert Einstein
Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value. ~ Ken Robinson
You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. ~ Maya Angelou
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. ~ Scott Adams
Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye. ~ Dorothy Parker
Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature. ~ Eric Hoffer
Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things. ~ Theodore Levitt
Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found. ~ James Russell Lowell
Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating. ~ John Cleese
Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected. ~ William Plomer
Creativity is the ability to see relationships where none exist. ~ Thomas Disch
Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm. ~ Earl Nightingale
Creativity is the greatest expression of liberty. ~ Bryant H. McGill
Creativity is the greatest rebellion in existence. ~ Osho
Design Thinking Quotes
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. ~ Steve Jobs
Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent. ~ Joe Sparano
Design is where science and art break even. ~ Robin Mathew
Design is not a single object or dimension. Design is messy and complex. ~ Natasha Jen
Design is the conscious effort to impose a meaningful order. ~ Victor Papanek
Design is intelligence made visible. ~ Alina Wheeler
Design is a solution to a problem. Art is a question to a problem. ~ John Maeda
Design is thinking made visual. ~ Saul Bass
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. ~ Steve Jobs
Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works. ~ Steve Jobs
Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. ~ Steve Jobs
Design is not the narrow application of formal skills, it is a way of thinking. ~ Chris Pullman
Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions; there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated. ~ Paul Rand
Design is the conscious and intuitive effort to impose meaningful order. ~ Victor Papanek
Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose. ~ Charles Eames
Design is the search for a magical balance between business and art; art and craft; intuition and reason; concept and detail; playfulness and formality; client and designer; designer and printer; and printer and public. ~ Valerie Pettis
Design is as much an act of spacing as an act of marking. ~ Ellen Lupton
Design is the intermediary between information and understanding. ~ Hans Hoffman
Design is the conscious effort to impose a meaningful order. ~ Victor Papanek
Design is where science and art break even. ~ Robin Mathew
Brainstorming Techniques Quotes
The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas. ~ Linus Pauling
Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. ~ Edward de Bono
Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. ~ Steve Jobs
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. ~ Albert Einstein
Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value. ~ Ken Robinson
You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. ~ Maya Angelou
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. ~ Scott Adams
Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye. ~ Dorothy Parker
Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature. ~ Eric Hoffer
Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things. ~ Theodore Levitt
Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found. ~ James Russell Lowell
Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating. ~ John Cleese
Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected. ~ William Plomer
Creativity is the ability to see relationships where none exist. ~ Thomas Disch
Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm. ~ Earl Nightingale
Creativity is the greatest expression of liberty. ~ Bryant H. McGill
Creativity is the greatest rebellion in existence. ~ Osho
Creativity is a drug I cannot live without. ~ Cecil B. DeMille
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. ~ Albert Einstein
If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it. ~ Albert Einstein
