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The essence of real creativity is a certain playfulness, a flitting from idea to idea without getting bogged down by fixated demands. Of course, you don’t always get what you thought you were asking for. From this era on, I think invention will be the parent of necessity—and not the other way around.

— Vernor Vinge A Deepness in the Sky (1999)

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Creativity

More quotes by Vernor Vinge

Quit crossing your fingers, Wim; the only thing that’ll ever save you from is the respect of educated men.

The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge (2001)

The hard facts are extraordinary, without adding superstitious mumbo-jumbo.

A Deepness in the Sky (1999)

Funny how the least attempt at deception always seems to make life more complicated.

A Deepness in the Sky (1999)

We realize that this means the destruction of solar systems, but consider the alternative.

A Fire Upon the Deep (1992)

Life is a green madness just now, trying to squeeze the last bit of warmth from the season.

A Fire Upon the Deep (1992)

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No decision in business provides greater potential for the creation of wealth (or its destruction, come to think of it) than the choice of which innovation to back.

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Originality consists in thinking for yourself, not in thinking differently from other people.

James Fitzjames Stephen Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (1873)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Vernor Vinge (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.