The World as Will and Representation. Arthur Schopenhauer (1)

The difference between genius and mere talent makes itself noticeable... For talent is an excellence which lies rather in the greater versatility and acuteness of discursive than of intuitive knowledge. He who is endowed with talent thinks more quickly and more correctly than others; but the genius beholds another world from them all...

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The man of talent can achieve what is beyond the power of achievement of other men, but not what is beyond their power of apprehension: therefore he at once finds those who prize him. But the achievement of the man of genius, on the contrary, transcends not only the power of achievement, but also the power of apprehension of others; therfore they do not become directly conscious of him. The man of talent is like the marksman who hits a mark the others cannot hit ; the man of genius is like the marksman who hits a mark they cannot even see to...


(1) Supplements to the Third Book: The World as Idea Second Aspect; Chapter XXXI: On Genius

Aprendizagem a distância. Fredric Litto

A configuração dos neurônios é diferente em cada ser humano, resultando em personalidades, estilos de curiosidade e talentos diferentes; o problema na educação é como lidar, apropriadamente, com essa heterogeniedade entre os alunos a um custo aceitável.

Big Magic. Elizabeth Gilbert

We all know that when courage dies, creativity dies with it. We all know that fear is a desolate boneyard where our dreams go to desiccate in the hot sun. This is common knowledge; sometimes we just don’t know what to do about it.

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Creativity is a path for the brave, yes, but it is not a path for the fearless, and it’s important to recognize the distinction.

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If your goal in life is to become fearless, then I believe you’re already on the wrong path, because the only truly fearless people I’ve ever met were straight-up sociopaths and a few exceptionally reckless three-year-olds – and those aren’t good role models for anyone.

Aprendizagem a distância. Fredric Litto

É mais econômico e menos trabalhoso para a sociedade oferecer um único modelo de formação para os jovens; mas, então, como esperar que, posteriormente, surjam indivíduos criativos, capazes de inovar?

Elogio de la crisis. Leopoldo Kohon

Dado que nos toca pensar y crear (vivir) en condiciones históricas novedosas, es necesario que dejemos de insistir en la pregunta por cómo debemos actuar ante cada situación. "Lo que se debe" está reglado desde antes y conlleva el peligro de quedarnos determinados por lo que otros pensaron y crearon desde una realidad que ya no es.

Para poder adentrarnos en nuevas formas de ser, será imprescindible autorizarnos a pensar abierto, preguntarnos cómo queremos que cada situación sea y cómo lograr hacerla realidad en nuestra experiencia, en el mayor grado que sea posible.

Mean People Fail. Paul Graham

…being mean makes you stupid. That's why I hate fights. You never do your best work in a fight, because fights are not sufficiently general. Winning is always a function of the situation and the people involved. You don't win fights by thinking of big ideas but by thinking of tricks that work in one particular case. And yet fighting is just as much work as thinking about real problems. Which is particularly painful to someone who cares how their brain is used: your brain goes fast but you get nowhere, like a car spinning its wheels.

Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech. Bertrand Russell

Human beings show their superiority to the brutes by their capacity for boredom, though I have sometimes thought, in examining the apes at the zoo, that they, perhaps, have the rudiments of this tiresome emotion. However that may be, experience shows that escape from boredom is one of the really powerful desires of almost all human beings.

Rising Strong: Brené Brown

Creativity embeds knowledge so that it can become practice. We move what we’re learning from our heads to our hearts through our hands. We are born makers, and creativity is the ultimate act of integration – it is how we fold our experiences into our being... The Asaro tribe of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea has a beautiful saying: “Knowledge is only a rumor until it lives in the muscle."

Big Magic. Elizabeth Gilbert

Ésta, yo creo, es la pregunta central de la cual la que depende toda la vida creativa: ¿Tiene el coraje de dar a luz los tesoros que se esconden dentro de ti?

Letters to a Young Poet. Rilke Rainer Maria

If your everyday life seems poor, don’t blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is not poverty and no poor, indifferent place. And even if you found yourself in some prison, whose walls let in none of the world’s sounds—wouldn’t you still have your childhood, that jewel beyond all price, that treasure house of memories? Turn your attentions to it. Try to raise up the sunken feelings of this enormous past; your personality will grow stronger, your solitude will expand and become a place where you can live in the twilight, where the noise of other people passes by, far in the distance. — And if out of this turning-within, out of this immersion in your own world, poems come, then you will not think of asking anyone whether they are good or not.

El liderazgo al estilo de los Jesuitas. Chris Lowney

El genio descansa en la convicción de que para la mayoría de los problemas hay solución, y que la imaginación, la perseverancia, y la apertura a nuevas ideas, la encontrarán.

Los alquimistas. Javier Díaz Sánchez

Penetrando en la cuestión alquímica, avanzamos, nos ramificamos y subrepticiamente llegamos a la causa esencial de todas las construcciones alegóricas y materiales abordadas por la humanidad: la voluntad transformadora; pues quien no pretende transformar –en cualquier instancia, no importan lo pequeña o ciclópea que parezca– no pertenece a la raza humana.

Creative Problem Solving, Students’ skills in tackling real-life problems. OECD

For students to be prepared for tomorrow’s world, they need more than mastery of a repertoire of facts and procedures; students need to become lifelong learners who can handle unfamiliar situations where the effect of their interventions is not predictable. When asked to solve problems for which they have no ready-made strategy, they need to be able to think flexibly and creatively about how to overcome the barriers that stand in the way of a solution.

About time. Richard Curtis

There's a song by Baz Luhrmann called Sunscreen. He says worrying about the future is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life will always be things that never crossed your worried mind.

El Príncipe. Nicolás Maquiavelo

Nótese bien que no hay cosa más ardua de manejar, ni que se lleve a cabo con más peligro, ni cuyo acierto sea más dudoso que el tomar la iniciativa de innovar, pues tiene por enemigos activísimos a cuantos sacaron provecho del orden que se intenta cambiar; y aun los que pudieran sacarlo del que se pretende establecer, suelen defenderlo con tibieza suma, tibieza que dimana en gran parte de la escasa confianza que los hombres ponen en las innovaciones, por buenas que parezcan, hasta que no hayan pasado por el tamiz de una experiencia sólida.   

El código enigma. Graham Moore (1)

Algunas veces es la gente de la que nadie imagina nada, la que logra cosas que nadie podría haber imaginado.

(1) Basada en el libro: The Enigma, por Andrew Hodges

Cultivating Creative-Mindedness. Guy Claxton

Creativity isn’t about music and art; it is an attitude to life, one that everybody needs. It is a composite of habits of mind which include curiosity, skepticism, imagination, determination, craftsmanship, collaboration and self-evaluation.