What is an idea? Use these quotes from famous people to think about what ideas are and how to get them.
1. “An idea is nothing more or less than a new combination of old elements.” – Jack Foster
2. “Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.” – Napoleon Hill
3. “The ability to make big leaps of thought is a common denominator among the originators of breakthrough ideas.” – Nicholas Negroponte
4. “Ideas are the mightiest influence on earth. One great thought breathed into a man may regenerate him.” – Channing thebigideas
5. “The men who build the future are those who know that greater things are yet to come, and that they themselves will help bring them about. Their minds are illumined by the blazing sun of hope. They never stop to doubt. They haven’t time.” – Melvin J. Evans
6. “The inlet of a man’s mind is what he learns; the outlet is what he accomplishes. If his mind is not fed by a continued supply of new ideas which he puts to work with purpose, and if there is no outlet in action, his mind becomes stagnant. Such a mind is a danger to the individual who owns it and is useless to the community.” – Jeremiah W. Jenks
7. “All advancement and progress come through ideas, not through physical force or mechanical force.” – Emerson
8. “An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.” – Buddha
9. “A single idea / the sudden flash of a thought / may be worth a million dollars.” – Robert Collier
10. “The essence of teaching is to make learning contagious, to have one idea spark another.” – Marva Collins
11. “The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.” – Earl Nightingale
12. “All achievements, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea.” – Napoleon Hill
13. “Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea.” – Jim Rohn
14. “Money never starts an idea. It is always the idea that starts the money.” – Owen Laughlin
15. “Ask for prosperous ideas.” – Catherine Ponder
16. “Everything begins with an idea.” – Earl Nightingale
17. “An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied.” – Arnold H. Glasgow
18. “When you are finished creating ideas, you are finished!” – Vernon Myers
19. “There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.” – Mark Twain
20. “A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.” – John F. Kennedy
21. “Get your ideas on paper and study them. Do not let them go to waste!” – Les Brown
22. “Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats. “- Howard Aiken
23. “Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” – John Steinbeck