“And when we describe it as I shall do, it becomes plain that imagination is a specifically human gift. To imagine is the characteristic act, not of the poet's mind, or the painter's, or the scientist's, but of the mind of man.” Imagination Author:Jacob Bronowski
“The creative personality is always one that looks on the world as fit for change and on himself as an instrument for change. Otherwise, what are you creating for? If the world is perfectly all right the way it is, you have no place in it. The creative personality thinks of the world as a canvas for change and of himself as a divine agent of change.” ChangeImaginationCreationChange Agents Book:The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination Source: The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination
“To imagine is the characteristic act, not of the poet's mind, or the painter's, or the scientist's, but of the mind of man.” MenMindImaginationImaginePoetScientistPainterCharacteristics Author:Jacob Bronowski
“We are all afraid for our confidence, for the future, for the world. That is the nature of the human imagination. Yet every man, every civilization, has gone forward because of its engagement with what it has set itself to do.” MenWorldHumansImaginationGoneCivilizationEvery ManEngagementHuman Imagination Book:The Ascent of Man Source: The Ascent of Man
“The act of imagination is the opening of the system so that it shows new connections. Every act of act of imagination is the discovery of likenesses between two things which were thought unlike. An example is Newton’s thinking of the likeness between the thrown apple and moon sailing majestically in the sky. Hence, the ‘discovery’ of the laws of gravity.” ThinkingTwoShowsLawImaginationSkyExampleMoonDiscoveryConnectionsOpeningApplesTwo ThingsThrownGravitySailingNewton Author:Jacob Bronowski
“But nature - that is, biological evolution - has not fitted man to any specific environment. On the contrary, ... he has a rather crude survival kit; and yet -this is the paradox of the human condition - one that fits him to all environments. Among the multitude of animals which scamper, fly, burrow and swim around us, man is the only one who is not locked into his environment. His imagination, his reason, his emotional subtlety and toughness, make it possible for him not to accept the environment but to change it.” MenHumansReasonImaginationAnimalAcceptingEnvironmentConditionsEmotionalEvolutionFitSurvivalContraryParadoxSwimHuman ConditionLockedMultitudesCrudeSubtletyToughnessBiological Evolution Author:Jacob Bronowski
“It is not the business of science to inherit the earth, but to inherit the moral imagination; because without that, man and beliefs and science will perish together.” MenEarthTogetherScienceBeliefImaginationMoralImagineAccounts Author:Jacob Bronowski
“A popular cliche in philosophy says that science is pure analysis or reductionism, like taking the rainbow to pieces; and art is pure synthesis, putting the rainbow together. This is not so. All imagination begins by analyzing nature.” ArtPhilosophyTogetherImaginationPiecesPureArt IsAnalysisRainbowClicheAnalyzingSynthesisReductionism Book:The Ascent of Man Source: The Ascent of Man
