“For every good idea, expect to have five, ten, twenty wrong or useless ideas. You cannot avoid the bad ideas if you keep your imagination free. There is no spam filter for bad ideas.”
Essay on Creativity in Science and Engineering
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Martin Lewis Perl 9
American scientist 1927–2014Related quotes
As quoted in the Jakarta Globe http://www.jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/features/legendary-director-garin-nugroho-shares-insights-experiences-singapore-masterclass/, Singapore International Film Festival (March 12, 2017)
“The idea of the thing was attacked by good and bad men, in good faith and bad.”
Source: Fourth Mansions (1969), Ch. 4
Context: "There was a later time when sincere men tried to build an organization as wide as the world to secure the peace of the world. It had been tried before and it had failed before. Perhaps if it failed this time it would not be tried again for a very long while. The idea of the thing was attacked by good and bad men, in good faith and bad. The final realization of it was so close that it could be touched with the fingertips. A gambler wouldn't have given odds on it either way. It teetered, and it almost seemed as though it would succeed. Then members of that group interfered."
"And it failed, O'Claire?"
"No. It succeeded, Foley, as in the other case. It succeeded in so twisted a fashion that the Devil himself was puzzled as to whether he had gained or lost ground by it. And he isn't easily puzzled."
“The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas, and throw the bad ones away.”
Variant: The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.
Source: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (2001), Ch. 3