Quotes about ideas and thoughts (6759 quotes, page 67)

“I never point a finger. If we reach people's brains and hearts and we try to come up with ideas, we can help them go in a direction which will solve a lot of the problems we've created. And you know, then again, whether it's in government or industries, these people have families and they care. They want to do the right thing, but we need to help. And thanks to science and new technologies, we can make that happen.”

Jean-Michel Cousteau (1938) French explorer and environmentalist; son of Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Q&A with Jean-Michel Cousteau: "The Future of Water - The Challenges and Solutions" https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qa-with-jean-michel-cousteau-the-future-of-water---the-challenges-and-solutions-271822971.html (August 19, 2014)

Family , People , Heart , Help

“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”

Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Success , Dreams , Thinking , Way

“An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.”

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist

Time

“My 'idea' has always been my passion. Not only do I have to be a good photographer technically, but also have to be able to capture the emotion of the moment.”

Austin Cofran

Passion

“It is not, you know, that you lie well, cousin. It’s merely that no one is foolhardy enough to call you on it. This may have given you an inflated idea of your skill at dissimulation.”

Lois McMaster Bujold book The Hallowed Hunt

Source: World of the Five Gods series, The Hallowed Hunt (2005), Chapter 8 (p. 136)

Lie

“I believe if you can have an open dialogue about anything, whether it's a book or a movie or TV show, it's this door that suddenly opens your mind to new ideas.”

Kelly Marie Tran (1989) American actress

As quoted in "Star Wars Breakout Kelly Marie Tran on The Last Jedi and Kylo Ren’s Shirtless Scene" in Vulture (20 December 2017) https://www.vulture.com/2017/12/kelly-marie-tran-on-the-last-jedi-and-shirtless-kylo-ren.html

Books

“My ultimate intuitive clue in philosophy is that "God is love" and that the idea of God is definable as that of the being worthy to be loved with all one’s heart, mind, soul, and entire being.”

Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000) Philosopher

The Philosophy of Charles Hartshorne (1991), edited by Lewis Edwin Hahn, p. 700

Soul , God , Heart , Love

“... nature has very few good ideas — it recycles them in subtle and interesting ways, over and over again — and it's our job to understand how that works.”

Nima Arkani-Hamed (1972) American-Canadian physicist

[A Conversation with Nima Arkani-Hamed: The Power of Principles, Physics Revealed (Part II), April 2, 2021, Ideas Roadshow, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzSDZ_EPiXk] (quote at 51:12 of 52:41)

Understanding , Nature , Way

“Nobody doubts that genes can shape anatomy. The idea that they also shape behaviour takes a lot more swallowing.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 7 “Instinct” (p. 91)

“Gentlemen, ideas outlive men; ideas outlive all earthly things. You who fought in the war for the Union fought for immortal ideas, and by their might you crowned the war with victory.”

James A. Garfield (1831–1881) American politician, 20th President of the United States (in office in 1881)

[Great applause.] But victory was worth nothing except for the truths that were under it, in it, and above it. We meet tonight as comrades to stand guard around the sacred truths for which we fought. [Loud and prolonged cheers.] And while we have life to meet and grasp the hand of a comrade, we will stand by the great truths of the war. ["Good," "good," and loud cheers.] Many convictions have sunk so deep into our hearts that we can never forget them. Think of the elevating spirit of the war itself. We gathered the boys from all our farms and shops and stores and schools and homes, from all over the Republic. They went forth unknown to fame, but returned enrolled on the roster of immortal heroes. [Great applause.] They went in the spirit of the soldiers of Henry at Agincourt, of whom he said. 'For he today that sheds his blood with me. Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile. This day shall gentle his condition.'
1880s, Speech to the 'Boys in Blue' (1880)

War , Victory , Men

“You can recognize a really good idea by the fact that its implementation seems impossible in the first place.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Google shows that the internet often attributes this statement to Einstein, but never with a source. It does not occur in any book in Google Books.
Misattributed

“Elegance is not a matter of good taste. Every culture has its own idea of beauty, which is often completely different from ours.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), About Elegance

Beauty

“Execution is the game. If you don't execute your ideas, nobody notices your contribution.”

Vladimer Botsvadze

Game

“My idea of heaven is, eating pâté de foie gras to the sound of trumpets.”

Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English writer and clergyman

View ascribed by Smith to his friend Henry Luttrell; reported in Hesketh Pearson, The Smith of Smiths (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1934), p. 236

“Something I planned long ago but had the idea yesterday.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1145218160720842752
Donald Trump on social media, Twitter

“The people who have done the most ghastly things overseas, the ones who don't fight to the death, we would all like to see them never able to do anyone any harm ever again. Locking them up and throwing away the key would be a great idea.”

Mark Rowley (1964) British police officer

Far-right terror threat 'growing' in UK as four plots foiled https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43200966 BBC News (26 February 2018)

People , Fight , Death

“How would the man born blind not have the idea of light? Nature has refused them a soul; they have some right to doubt, not only the immortality of the soul, but its existence.”

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

Last Speech to the National Convention (26 July 1794)

Soul , Light , Nature , Feeling

“We're used to the idea that women aren't represented in our culture and media and politics and films. The idea that this extended to what was sold as objective - the idea of medicine and science, that they were also underrepresenting women - was just mind-blowing to me.”

Caroline Criado-Perez (1984) British journalist and author

On how women are ignored in the medical world in “Caroline Criado-Perez On Data Bias And 'Invisible Women'” https://www.npr.org/2019/03/17/704209639/caroline-criado-perez-on-data-bias-and-invisible-women in NPR (2019 Mar 17)

Science , Women

“I think moviemakers in every country are looking for ideas. It’s interactive. And sometimes we remake a lot of Hollywood films but we don’t buy the rights, we just try to imitate those films.”

Tony Leung (1962) Hong Kong actor

"Lust, Caution – Tony Leung interview" (2007) https://tonyleung.info/tony/?p=237

Country , Thinking

“You’re a perfect example of God’s idea of what he wanted eve to be to Adam.”

Suraj Sani (1996) Nigerian writer, Spoken word artist

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10937451-you-re-a-perfect-example-of-god-s-idea-of-what-he/

Perfection , God

“When I was young, the idea of “world cinema” didn’t exist. We would watch any films that we could find in the cinemas. Today, some of those films have become accessible again on streaming platforms. In a way, it doesn’t matter as much where they exist as long as people have access to them.”

Wong Kar-wai (1958) Hong Kong screenwriter, film producer and film director

"5 Questions for Wong Kar Wai" in Notebook Feature (19 March 2021) https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/5-questions-for-wong-kar-wai

People , Way , World

“We know who we are. People cling to these firm ideas [about gender] because it makes people feel safe. But if we could just celebrate all the wonderful complexities of people, the world would be such a better place.”

Ellen Page (1987) Canadian actress

Elliot Page Is Ready for This Moment https://time.com/5947032/elliot-page/, 16 March 2021
2021

People , World , Feeling

“Bad ideas in computer science and anywhere are sticky. If the first idea was a bad idea, then because it works people will sort of repeat it.”

Joe Armstrong (1950–2019) British computer scientist

The How and Why of Fitting Things Together

People , Science

“Not all ideas of the ideas that pass from one brain to another brain... are good ideas; some are mistakes. These I call 'mismemes.'”

Richard Bergland neuroscientist

The Fabric of Mind (1985)

“I think anyone can make one, two great photographs. It is the endeavor, the sustained effort and exploration of an idea or a subject that is more significant.”

An-My Lê (1960) American photographer

Interview with Daylight Books (1 October 2017)

Thinking , Effort

“But copying others can't make you great. So the key is how to localize a great idea and create domestic innovation.”

Ma Huateng (1971) Chinese internet entrepreneur

"A mysterious message millionaire" in China Daily (12 January 2009) http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2009-01/12/content_7388202.htm

“My basic ideas have not changed. I see no reason to change them.”

Israel Epstein (1915–2005) Chinese politician

Israel Epstein, Prominent Chinese Communist, Dies at 90 in The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/world/asia/israel-epstein-prominent-chinese-communist-dies-at-90.html (2 June 2005)

Change

“In my mind, there is still the idea of fraternity in the Bible.”

Soong Ching-ling (1893–1981) Sun Yat-Sen's wife, Honorary President of the People's Republic of China (1893-1981)

In a letter written to her Japanese friend Fumiko Niki in 1978, 宋慶齡基督教思想之演變 https://exchristian.hk/wiki/doku.php/%E5%AE%8B%E6%85%B6%E9%BD%A1%E7%94%9F%E5%B9%B3%E4%B8%80%E7%94%9F%E6%B7%B1%E5%8F%97%E5%9F%BA%E7%9D%A3%E4%BF%A1%E4%BB%B0%E5%BD%B1%E9%9F%BF

“The success of the middle class alliance depended on the acceptance by the working class element of middle class leadership and middle class ideas.”

Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) British politician

Chartism: An Introductory Essay (1929), p. 85

Dependency , Success

“I love horror and I felt like I had a really good idea about how to make something scary, but also I’m very measured, especially with a story like this, about what is appropriate and what is not appropriate.”

Nia DaCosta (1989) film director

On her approach to the horror genre in Candyman director Nia DaCosta: ‘It is shocking the way people have talked to me’” https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/aug/26/candyman-director-nia-dacosta-this-should-be-happening-for-more-people-like-me in The Guardian (2021 Aug 26)

Love