“The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
Source: Think Big (1996), p. 224
“The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“A man's mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935) United States Supreme Court justice
Also reported as "One's mind" instead of "A man's mind", and "can never go back" or "never regains" instead of "never goes back"; most likely properly attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Misattributed
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935) United States Supreme Court justice
Often given as: A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions. <br class="br">Or: A mind that is stretched by a new idea can never go back to its old dimensions. <br class="br">Actually by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Senior, from " Autocrat of the Breakfast Table https://books.google.com/books?id=BoQ3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA502&dq=%22stretched+by+a+new+idea%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwidspn60tTJAhVJ1GMKHbt3Bn0Q6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=%22stretched%20by%20a%20new%20idea%22&f=false", originally published in The Atlantic, September 1858. <br class="br">Misattributed
Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894) Poet, essayist, physician
The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)
“The mind that opens to a new idea, Never comes back to its original size.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Actually said by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. in his book The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table: "Every now and then a man's mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions."
Misattributed
Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947) French painter and printmaker
Dita Amory, in Pierre Bonnard: The Late Still Lifes and Interiors; Yale University Press, New Haven, 2009 - ISBN 978-0-300-14889-3, p. 4
Bonnard started to paint usually on an unstretched canvas
“I didn’t mind the quiet stretches. It was like we were trying out the idea of being side by side.”
Aimee Bender (1969) Novelist, short story writer
Source: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Colum McCann book Let the Great World Spin
Source: Let the Great World Spin (2009), Book One: All Respects to Heaven, I Like it Here