Creativity

And so I have always realized that I would have to invent my own job.

It is not easy to be a maverick and to keep to the narrow path of self-chosen excellence in a nonexisting domain.

But the idea of the lone hunter, or the lone voyager or explorer, who’s guided by his principles and is going to get there against all odds, that self-image, as romantic and foolish as many people might consider it, is a very powerful force in making a major scientist.

What is so difficult about this process is that one must keep the mind focused on two contradictory goals: not to miss the message whispered by the unconscious and at the same time force it into a suitable form.

I would say that the chief obstacle is—oneself.

Contacts like these are necessary to the creative person for several reasons: They provide benchmarks for evaluating one’s own work, they offer competition that spurs one to surpass oneself, they provide helpful criticism, and, last but not least, they open up opportunities and information that can be essential to one’s advancement.

Physicists have a favorite phrase, “the butterfly effect.” That means that if a butterfly should fly in here and get hurt, the effect of that accident would be felt in galaxies thousands of light-years away.

Only by immersing oneself in the domain can one find out whether there is room left for contributing creatively to it, and whether one is capable of doing so

Confucius says that you should listen to the silent voice of your own heart.

You cannot change the world, but you can change the single person, I guess. And a single person who decides not to join the crowd….