45 Short Quotes About Creativity For a Dose of Inspiration

The following is a collection of short quotes about creativity, carefully selected to ignite that inner flame that fuels all artistic endeavors.

We’ve all been there — those moments where inspiration seems elusive, and every path forward feels like a dead end.

Hopefully, these nuggets of wisdom can act as inspiration when the creative juices aren’t flowing or as signposts when you hit a dead end in a project, guiding you to unexplored avenues and untapped potentials.

Personally, I find switching environments very conducive to inspiring new ideas and starting to connect new dots. It’s a practice that has often led me to unexpected and delightful pathways in my creative journey. It’s all about perspective, and a fresh one might be just the thing to rejuvenate your process.

So sit back, soak in the words, and let them stir that vibrant creative spirit within you. Enjoy!

Quotes About Creativity

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Albert Einstein

Without freedom, there is no creation.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.

Edward de Bono

Every act of creation begins with an act of destruction.

Pablo Picasso

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use the more you have.

Maya Angelou

Creativity is just connecting things.

Steve Jobs

Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.

Pablo Picasso

If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much.

Steve Jobs

In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude.

Rollo May

True creativity often starts where language ends.

Arthur Koestler

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will.

George Bernard Shaw

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.

Erich Fromm

If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.

John Cleese

Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.

Leo Burnett

You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.

Jack London

The creative adult is the child who survived.

Ursula Le Guin

Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.

Charles Mingus

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!

Dr. Seuss

The comfort zone is the great enemy to creativity.

Dan Stevens

Imagination rules the world.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Ideas come from everything.

Alfred Hitchcock

The chief enemy of creativity is good sense.

Pablo Picasso

An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.

Edwin Land

If it doesn’t sell; it isn’t creative.

David Ogilvy

Creativity is the art of concealing your source.

Coco Chanel

Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm.

Earl Nightingale

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

Scott Adams

Creativity takes courage.

Henri Matisse

Creativity – like human life itself – begins in darkness.

Julia Cameron

Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.

Rita Mae Brown

The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Creativity doesn’t wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones.

Bruce Garrabrandt

Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye.

Dorothy Parker

Everything you can imagine is real.

Pablo Picasso

Mystery is at the heart of creativity. That, and surprise.

Julia Cameron

Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity.

T. S. Eliot

Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.

Bill Moyers

Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.

Ray Bradbury

Creativity doesn’t wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones.

Bruce Garrabrandt

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.

Henry David Thoreau

Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.

William Plomer

To be creative means to be in love with life.

Osho

Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.

Cecil B. DeMille

Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas.

Donatella Versace

Replace fear with curiosity.

Steven Spielberg

Contemplate and Create

Thought-Provoking Queries and Actionable Challenges

Contemplate

• Dr. Seuss’ quote encourages thinking in all directions “left and right and low and high.” Consider a current project or problem you’re facing. How might approaching it from different angles, including ones you hadn’t previously considered, open up new avenues of creativity?
• Ursula Le Guin said, “The creative adult is the child who survived.” Reflect on your childhood self. What were your creative outlets then? Can revisiting some of those past activities ignite your current creative spirit?

Create

• Pablo Picasso mentioned that “every act of creation begins with an act of destruction.” Take this concept literally by taking an old piece of art, a photograph, or a short piece of writing, and alter it in some way to create something new. You might tear a picture to create a collage or revise a paragraph from an old journal entry to give it new meaning.
• Leo Burnett believes that “curiosity about life in all of its aspects” is a secret of great creative people. Cultivate your curiosity by starting a curiosity journal. Every day for a week, jot down things that pique your interest, no matter how small. At the end of the week, review your entries and explore at least one topic in more depth, letting it fuel your creativity.

Parting Words

As we round off our curated collection short quotes about creativity, we trust you’ve found sparks of inspiration and nuggets of wisdom to fuel your own creative journey.

Much like a city stroller wandering through vibrant streets, each quote invites you to pause, reflect, and rediscover the depths of your creative spirit.

We believe that creativity is a continually evolving force, one that is nurtured through diverse perspectives and insights. It’s not confined to the arts. It permeates every aspect of life, encouraging us to view the world through a fresh lens each day.

What other quotes about creativity would you add to the list? Let us know in the comments!

You might also enjoy these other related quote collections:

• Quotes About Walking
• Quotes About Nonconformity
• Quotes About Exploration
• Quotes About Observing
• Quotes About the Mind and Psychology

Originally Published: September 4, 2019