Carl Sagan - Carl Jung - Albert Einstein - John Keats - Richard Feynman - Joseph Duemer - Thomas Edison - John Dewey - Planet of the Apemen TV - Jacob Bronowski TV - The Human Spark TV - William Wordsworth - Morgan Freeman TV - Brad Henry - Ken Dodd - Vincent van Gogh - Edgar Degas - Edouard Manet - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine TV - Terry Wogan - Genesis 8:21 - L Frank Baum - Gloria Steinem - William Blake - John Muir - John Lennon - Blaise Pascal - Carl Sagan - Joseph Conrad - Arthur Conan Doyle - Samuel Johnson - Adam Smith - Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Daniel C Dennett - William Shakespeare - George Lucas - Napoleon Bonaparte - Richard Wagner - Anatole France - Epictetus - Vladimir Nabokov - John Steinbeck - Charles Chaplin - Graham Greene - J K Rowling - Saul Bellow - John Muir - Jane Austen - Lewis Carroll - Quentin Crisp - Oscar Wilde -
We wish to pursue the truth no matter where it leads. But to find the truth we need imagination and scepticism both. Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan, Cosmos: The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean, PBS 1980
Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it we go nowhere. Carl Sagan
All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy. What right have we then to deprecate imagination. Carl Jung
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. Albert Einstein, attributed
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination embraces the entire world. Albert Einstein, interview The Saturday Evening Post 1929
I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart’s affections and the truth of the imagination. John Keats
Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there. Richard Feynman, The Character of Physical Law 1965
‘The body is the instrument on which imagination plays.’ Joseph Duemer, cited After the Last Round, 2009
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. Thomas A Edison
Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination. John Dewey, The Quest For Certainty: A Study of the Relation of Knowledge and Action
Imagination, the ability to visualise what can’t be seen, would prove another defining advantage for our species. Planet of the Apemen I: Battle For Earth, BBC 2011
It is not the business of science to inherit the Earth, but to inherit the moral imagination. Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man 13/13: The Long Childhood, BBC 1973
Insight and imagination both seem to be right at the heart of the human spark. The Human Spark III: Brain Matters, PBS 2010
Imagination, which in truth,
Is but another name for absolute power
And clearest insight, amplitude of mind,
And Reason, in her most exalted mood. William Wordsworth, The Prelude, 1850
But thou, that did’st appear so fair
To fond imagination,
Dost rival in the light of day
Her delicate creation. William Wordsworth, Yarrow Visited
Is our sense of self constructed from the memories of who we once were and our imagination of who we hope to be? Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman s3e4: What Makes Us Who We Are? Science 2012
A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instil a love of learning. Brad Henry
All imagination ... A lot of us seem to lose that spirit of play. Lose that spirit of imagination. Ken Dodd
Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model. Vincent van Gogh
It is all very well to copy what one sees, but it is far better to draw what one now only sees in one's memory. That is a transformation in which imagination collaborates with memory. Edgar Degas
It is not enough to know your craft – you have to have feeling. Science is all very well, but for us imagination is worth far more. Edouard Manet
Kira: Yellow Alert against our own imaginations?
Sisko: You have a better idea? Star Trek: Deep Space Nine s1e16: If Wishes Were Horses
Ladies and gentlemen, and all androgynous creatures, please stop using your imaginations! ibid. Odo in bar
Television contracts the imagination and radio expands it. Terry Wogan
For the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Genesis 8:21
Imagination has brought mankind through the Dark Ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity. Imagination has given us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine and the automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they became realities. So I believe that dreams – day dreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain-machinery whizzing – are likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to create, to invent, and therefore to foster civilization. L Frank Baum, The Lost Princess of Oz
Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning. Gloria Steinem
Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow. William Blake
The power of imagination makes us infinite. John Muir
When the imagination sleeps, words are emptied of their meaning. Albert Camus
Imagine there’s no heaven,
It’s easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky … John Lennon, Imagine, 1971
Reality leaves a lot to the imagination. John Lennon
Imagination disposes of everything: it creates beauty, justice and happiness which are everything in this world. Blaise Pascal
Only in men’s imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art, as of life. Joseph Conrad, Some Reminiscences, 1912
Where there is no imagination there is no horror. Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, 1888
Were it not for imagination, sir, a man would be as happy in the arms of a chambermaid as of a duchess. Samuel Johnson
Though our brother is on the rack, as long as we ourselves are at our ease, our senses will never inform us of what he suffers ... It is by imagination that we can form any conception of what are his sensations. Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments
Imagination is the living power and prime agent of all human perception. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
What you can imagine depends on what you know. Daniel C Dennett