“No scientist or student of science, need ever read an original work of the past. As a general rule, he does not think of doing so. Rutherford was one of the greatest experimental physicists, but no nuclear scientist today would study his researches of fifty years ago. Their substance has all been infused into the common agreement, the textbooks, the contemporary papers, the living present.” ThinkingNeedsYearsDoeTodayPastScienceCommonStudyStudentsPaperResearchYears AgoScientistOriginalsNuclearContemporarySubstanceFiftyAgreementPapersPhysicistTextbooks Author:C.P. Snow
“Before I even put pen to paper, in any sense, I'm like, "What's the coolest MacGuffin you can come up with? What are the last frames of this series?" The secret that's behind this entire thing is to be as evocative, original, thought-provoking and timely.” LastsSecretBehindsPaperOriginalsSeriesCome UpThought ProvokingPensProvokingTimelyOriginal Thought Author:Paul Scheuring
“Seeing the world anew, as if it were new, is as old as writing. It's what all painters are trying to do, to see what's there, to see it in a way that renews it. It becomes more and more urgent as the planet gets worn flat and forest after forest is slain to print the paper for people's impressions to be scrawled down on. It becomes harder and harder to be original, to see things with an innocent eye. Innocence is much tied up with it. As the planet gets progressively less innocent, you need a more innocent eye to see it.” PeopleIfsWorldWayNeedsWritingTryingEyeSeeingPlanetsPaperHarderOriginalsImpressionForestsInnocentPainterInnocenceFlatsPrintTiedWornUrgentSeeing The WorldTied UpInnocent Eyes Author:Martin Amis
“Evolution is the fundamental idea in all of life science, in all of biology. The key to our being here now is time, 4.54 billion (Earth) years of time. Nuclear fission wasn't discovered until long after Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace published their original books and papers, for example. Our ability to measure atomic masses wasn't developed until long after their deaths. These features of nature enabled us to reckon the age of the Earth and compare it with speciation rates here.” YearsLongBookIdeasAgeEarthAbilityExampleKeysEvolutionPaperMassOriginalsFundamentalsRateNuclearBillionsCompareFeaturesBiologyPapersFissionNuclear FissionSpeciation Author:Bill Nye
“Three words that still have meaning, that I think we can apply to all professional writing, are discovery, originality, invention.The professional writer discovers some aspect of the world and invents out of the speech of his time some particularly apt and original way of putting it down on paper.” ThinkingWorldWayWritingStillsThreeSpeechPaperDiscoveryAspectOriginalsInventionProseOriginalityThree WordsProfessional Writing Book:John Dos Passos: the major nonfictional prose Source: John Dos Passos: the major nonfictional prose
“What is the end of Fame? 'tis but to fill A certain portion of uncertain paper: Some liken it to climbing up a hill, Whose summit, like all hills, is lost in vapour: For this men write, speak, preach, and heroes kill, And bards burn what they call their "midnight taper," To have, when the original is dust, A name, a wretched picture, and worse bust.” MenWritingEndsCertainNamesLostSpeakHeroFamePaperOriginalsDustHillsClimbingPortionsUncertainMidnightWretchedSummitBardsClimbing UpVapour Book:DON JUAN Source: DON JUAN
“What originally established the band was cover songs like Not Fade Away. Then, later on, we got more well-known ones like Satisfaction, which you might say echoed the thinking of, well, any generation you care to name, including the present one. But we didn't set out on bits of paper that we were going to be the voice of a generation. The original aim of the Rolling Stones was to play blues. It wasn't even to play rock music.” ThinkingWellsPlayMightCareSongNamesBitsVoiceKnownGenerationsRocksBandPaperStonesOriginalsAimIncludingSatisfactionFadesRollingWell KnownRock MusicRolling StonesFade AwayCover Songs Author:William S. Burroughs
“I love seeing original cartoons. You get to see the artist's corrections, like erasures or Wite-Out or patches, and you get to see the artist's line in better detail, and what kind of ink they use - whether they like a cold black or a warm black, and what kind of paper they like, how big or small they like to draw - art nerd stuff like that.” KindArtUseBigsArtistStuffBlackLinesSeeingColdPaperDrawsOriginalsDetailsWarmCartoonNerdInkPatchesCorrections Author:Roz Chast
“A book is not only written - after it's finished it starts writing you, the writer. You become its notebook, its sheet of paper on which it forces you to think and rethink your original ideas, your topics, your research, actually everything.” ThinkingWritingBookIdeasForceWrittenPaperResearchOriginalsFinishedTopicsSheetsNotebookOriginal Ideas Author:Sasa Stanisic
“Nixon was the one force in Montgomery for a number of years that made any effort in the direction of challenging the power structure. Ed Nixon's source of direction for that comes out of his relationship with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Care Porters and the Randolph philosophy of mass action. So, Ed Nixon really was the force that conceived of the boycott and drew up the original papers for the boycott.” YearsMadePhilosophyCareActionForceChallengesSleepNumbersEffortSourcePaperMassOriginalsStructureBrotherhoodPapersBoycottMontgomery Author:Ella Baker
“When I'm talking to somebody, I'll put a piece of paper on the table and I'll write what I call a conversation summary - notes about the conversation on the piece of paper. At the end of the conversation, I'll take a picture on my phone and give the other person the original piece of paper.” GivingWritingPersonsEndsTalkingPiecesConversationPaperOriginalsTablesNotesPhonesSummary Author:Edward Boyden
“That would be the frontispiece. This was a picture of my mother and me coming out of the United States Supreme Court, with fecal matter smeared across our faces. They wrapped it in wax paper so that when I received it I'd get the full impact of the message. Though I haven't gotten anything quite that original lately, there's still never a dull moment in my mailbox.” StillsMatterStatesMomentsWould BeFacesMotherUnitedUnited StatesHavensPaperMessagesOriginalsImpactCourtSupremeDullComing OutSupreme CourtMailboxes Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair
“He had learned from experience that what he succeeded in putting down on paper was only ever a pale reflection of what he had imagined, and so he had come to accept that this would only be half as good as the original, half as acceptable as the flawless, unachievable novel that had acted as a guide, and which he imagined pulsating mockingly behind each book like some ghostly presence.” BookBehindsHalfAcceptingNovelPaperReflectionOriginalsGuidesAcceptablePaleFlawless Author:Félix J. Palma
“You need a good editor because every writer thinks he can write a War and Peace, but by the time he gets it on paper, it's not War and Peace anymore; it's comic-book stuff. Your manuscript is both good and original. But the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.” ThinkingNeedsWritingBookWarStuffPaperOriginalsCriticsComicEditorsComic BookManuscripts Author:Samuel Johnson
“I'm often wary of using the word 'inspiration' to introduce my work -- it sounds too much like a sun shower from the heavens, absorbed by a passive individual enjoying an especially receptive moment. While that may be the case on rare occasions, the reality is usually far more prosaic. Staring at a blank piece of paper, I can't think of anything original. I feel utterly uninspired and unreceptive. It's the familiar malaise of 'artist's block' and in such circumstances there is only one thing to do: just start drawing.” ThinkingFeelsMayI CanMomentsRealityInspirationArtistIndividualHeavenEnjoySoundCasesSunToo MuchPiecesOne ThingCircumstancesPaperOriginalsDrawingFamiliarBlockOccasionsStaringThings To DoWorking ItIntroducingPassiveBlankShowersReceptiveMalaiseUninspiredRare Occasion Author:Shaun Tan