Just because an idea is true doesn't mean it can be proved. And just because an idea can be proved doesn't mean it's true. Jonah Lehrer More Quotes by Jonah Lehrer More Quotes From Jonah Lehrer A lie told well is just as good as the truth. Jonah Lehrer wells lying The only way to maximize group creativity—to make the whole more than the sum of its parts—is to encourage a candid discussion of mistakes. In part, this is because the acceptance of error reduces cost. When you believe your flaws will be quickly corrected by the group, you're less worried about perfecting your contribution, which leads to a more candid conversation. We can only get it right when we talk about what we got wrong. Jonah Lehrer creativity mistake believe Creativity shouldn't be seen as something otherworldly. It shouldn't be thought of as a process reserved for artists and inventors and other 'creative types.' The human mind, after all, has the creative impulse built into its operating system, hard-wired into its most essential programming code. At any given moment, the brain is automatically forming new associations, continually connecting an everyday x to an unexpected y. Jonah Lehrer creativity creative artist If you're trying to be more creative, one of the most important things you can do is increase the volume and diversity of the information to which you are exposed. Jonah Lehrer diversity important creative The vocational approach at NOCCA (New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts) helps build grit in students. It teaches them how to be single-minded in pursuit of a goal, to sacrifice for the sake of a passion. The teachers demand hard work from their kids because they know, from personal experience, that creative success requires nothing less. Jonah Lehrer hard-work teacher art I always wanted to be a scientist, I always thought I'd be a scientist, that was the narrative I was carrying around. I worked in a neuroscience lab as an undergraduate and then after, almost five years in total, but I realized I just wasn't good at science. I didn't have the discipline for it. Jonah Lehrer labs discipline years You know more than you know. Jonah Lehrer knows Every creative story is different. And yet every creative story is the same: There was nothing, now there is something. It's almost like magic. Jonah Lehrer nothing story magic creative