Imagination and The Wisdom of Others

I wanted to write something here about the potency of the imagination not only for writers, but for everyone and anyone. So - as is my custom - I gathered lots of quotations to mull over. But I was so floored by the wisdom of others that I thought I'd leave a selection here for you to enjoy on their own. I'll write my own take on the potency of the imagination in my post tomorrow.

Here we go:

Imagination disposes of everything; it creates beauty, justice, and happiness, which are everything in this world. Blaise Pascal

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create. Albert Einstein

Probably the difference between man and the monkeys is that the monkeys are merely bored, while man has boredom plus imagination. Lin Yutang.

It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards. Lewis Carroll

The man who has no imagination has no wings. Muhammed Ali

I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant. Ursula K le Guin.

Personally, I would sooner have written Alice in Wonderland than the whole Encyclopedia Britannica. Stephen Leacock.

... and finally the inimitable Emily Dickinson:

The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

For—put them side by side—

The one the other will contain

With ease—and You—beside—

The Brain is deeper than the sea—

For—hold them—Blue to Blue—

The one the other will absorb—

As Sponges—Buckets—do—

The Brain is just the weight of God—

For—Heft them—Pound for Pound—

And they will differ—if they do—

As Syllable from Sound—

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Glorious food for thought... Wx

(Painting of Tyne Bridge Floating by Fiona Naughton www.fionanaughtonartworks.com)