Many adults believe they are “not creative,” usually because somewhere along the way they stopped practicing. A quote about creativity can be a small invitation to start again. This collection gathers creativity quotes for work, brainstorming sessions, innovation workshops, and team meetings, organized by theme, with ideas for using each group of quotes to warm up a room.
How to Use Creativity Quotes in Workshops and Meetings
- Warm up a brainstorm. Share a quote about quantity of ideas right before an idea generation round.
- Lower the fear of failure. Use a quote about mistakes before asking people to share rough ideas.
- Start an innovation workshop. Ask participants which quote matches how they feel about their own creativity.
- Decorate the space. A few quotes on the walls of a workshop room or the frame of a virtual whiteboard set a creative tone.
Quotes About Generating Ideas
- “The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.” (Linus Pauling)
- “Creativity is just connecting things.” (Steve Jobs)
- “Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” (John Steinbeck)
- “Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.” (William Plomer)
- “Innovation is taking two things that already exist and putting them together in a new way.” (Tom Freston)
Try it: After sharing Linus Pauling’s quote, give the group three minutes to write as many ideas as possible on sticky notes, one per note. Quantity first. The 100 ideas exercise takes this further.
Quotes About Mistakes and Taking Risks
- “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” (Ken Robinson)
- “An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” (Edwin Land)
- “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” (Scott Adams)
- “There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.” (Brené Brown)
- “Creativity takes courage.” (Henri Matisse)
Try it: Before a prototyping round, share Scott Adams’s quote and ask the group to build the “worst possible version” of their idea first. Laughing at a bad idea often frees people up to suggest bold good ones.
Quotes About Imagination and Practice
- “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” (Albert Einstein)
- “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” (Maya Angelou)
- “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” (attributed to Pablo Picasso)
- “Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye.” (Dorothy Parker)
- “Creativity comes from looking for the unexpected and stepping outside your own experience.” (Masaru Ibuka)
Try it: Maya Angelou’s quote is a good opener for a creativity training. Follow it with a quick warm-up like the alternative uses test to show the group how quickly ideas start to flow with practice.
Quotes About Turning Ideas Into Change
- “Creative thinking inspires ideas. Ideas inspire change.” (Barbara Januszkiewicz)
- “Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy.” (Ray Bradbury)
Ray Bradbury was talking about the first draft, not the whole process. Good creative work moves between free generation and careful judgment, which is why techniques like SCAMPER and the creative problem solving process separate the two on purpose.
A Creativity Quote Warm-Up
Give each table one quote from this page. In five minutes, the group has to come up with an idea for a product, service, or workplace change that the quote “inspired,” no matter how silly. Each table shares its idea in thirty seconds. It loosens up the room, gets people building on each other’s thinking, and shows how a single prompt can spark original ideas.
More Quote Collections
Browse our innovation quotes, design thinking quotes, and teamwork and collaboration quotes.
Bring Creativity Training to Your Team
Creativity grows with practice, a safe environment, and good methods. InnovationTraining.org runs hands-on sessions that help teams generate and develop better ideas on their real challenges. Explore our creativity and innovation training and brainstorming workshops, or contact us to design a session. Which quote would you put on the wall of your next workshop?