Ideas quotes
16.4K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside ideas — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"The ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas [and] the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market."
"A mathematician of the first rank, Laplace quickly revealed himself as only a mediocre administrator; from his first work we saw that we had been deceived. Laplace saw no question from its true point of view; he sought subtleties everywhere; had only doubtful ideas, and finally carried the spirit of the infinitely small into administration."
"For my part, it is not the mystery of the incarnation which I discover in religion, but the mystery of social order, which associates with heaven that idea of equality which prevents the rich from destroying the poor"
"My idea of society is that while we are born equal, meaning that we have a right to equal opportunity, all have not the same capacity."
"So from an actor's perspective, you really have no idea how you're acting."
"We still have to evolve, that's how we're created, we're created to evolve so you can believe in that the answer is in this book or in this one idea that the masses most believe in, each individual must evolve themselves, spiritually and consciously."
"I think if I'm serious about affecting people with music, I have to affect people on a human to human level, not on a grand social idea or political idea, it has to be a human being idea so it has to be what's inside a human being."
"You have no idea, sir, how difficult it is to be the victim of benevolence."
"Here's what my love affair with quotations has taught me: the more you focus on words that uplift you, the more you embody the ideas contained in those words."
"No form of human exchange is more profitable than the exchange of ideas. If I give you a thought in return for one of your thoughts, each of us will have gained a 100 percent dividend."
"Further, in writing, I feel corrupt and unethical if I have to look up a subject in a library as part of the writing itself. This acts as a filter--it is the only filter. If the subject is not interesting enough for me to look it up independently, for my own curiosity or purposes, and I have not done so before, then I should not be writing about it at all, period. It does not mean that libraries (physical and virtual) are not acceptable; it means that they should not be the source of any idea."
"It's not a good idea to take a forecast from someone wearing a tie. If possible, tease people who take themselves and their knowledge too seriously."
"A lot of those old ideas are dying with the people who created them, and there's this new generation of filmmaker that's saying, "We're in this together, these are issues that we all deal with, let's just present issues to screen without bias and figure out what the audience has to say about them.""
"A collection is not just one basic idea. It comes from something that is in the air, something you suddenly like and put down on paper and then work out."
"Sometimes the idea of being truly iconic has something to do with not necessarily being beautiful and thus trying harder."
"Having fun unleashes creativity. It is one of the seeds you plant to get ideas"
"When I'm playing music I'm usually not thinking of surfing, just because I'm usually thinking about the chords and the lyrics, and sometimes that messes me up 'cause you'll start thinking, "Wait, how am I doing this?" But when I'm surfing, I'm usually thinking about music - whether it's an idea for a new song, or just singing a song in my head."
"I want to be good. I can't bear the idea of my soul being hideous."
"All great ideas are dangerous."
"We have quite the same ideas. No; I think our ideas are quite different. But he has been most pleasant."
