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They tried to be too clever, and that was their undoing.
—Agatha ChristieFalsity cannot keep an idea from being beautiful. There are certain errors of such ingenuity that one could regret their not ranking among the achievements of the human mind.
—Jean Rostand They were strange and mercantile people, these Americans. One never knew what they might come up with next.
—Lauren Willig Whenever I found out anything remarkable, I put down my discovery on paper, so that all ingenious people might be informed thereof.
—Antonie van Leeuwenhoek It will be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic.
—Edgar Allan Poe The more I pushed myself to get over my fears, I realised that my imagination was the thing that stopped me.
—Ami Vitale I am a brain, Watson. The rest of me is mere appendix.
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Fear is an excellent motivator. I find that it really brings out the true ingenuity of a creature.
—MD Elster Facts aren’t everything; at least half the battle consists in how one makes use of them.
—Fyodor Dostoevsky Only a mind free of impediment is capable of grasping the chaotic beauty of the world. This is our greatest asset.
—Oliver Bowden You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.
—Frank McCourt Even if the situation or challenge is very complex, usually the simplest solution is the one to go with.
—Roxanne Quimby The world is in perpetual motion, and we must invent the things of tomorrow. Act with audacity.”
—Madame Clicquot
(This story appears in the 17 July, 2020 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)