The unconscious machine
down anew to the work . . . It might be said that the conscious work has been more fruitful because it has been interrupted and the rest has given back to the mind its force and freshness.”
Amy E. Herman • Visual Intelligence
There is another remark to be made about the conditions of this unconscious work: it is possible, and of a certainty it is only fruitful, if it is on the one hand preceded and on the other hand followed by a period of conscious work. These sudden inspirations (and the examples already cited sufficiently prove this) never happen except after some da... See more
The Marginalian • Inclining the Mind Toward “Sudden Illumination”: French Polymath Henri Poincaré on How Creativity Works
I brood, thinking of ideas, in the automobile when I’m driving to work or in the subway or when I’m mowing the lawn. By the time I get to the paper something’s there—I can produce.
Mason Currey • Daily Rituals: How Artists Work
I learned something when I came here. I'll be working on something, and I'll come to an impasse. I'll say, “I don't know where this poem is going.” Or let's say I'm writing the libretto for an opera, and I won't know what these two characters are going to do.
I'll go out and I'll prune a tree for an hour, cut away the dead wood—and things like that.... See more
I'll go out and I'll prune a tree for an hour, cut away the dead wood—and things like that.... See more