If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you open to my ideas
John CleeseRead
This is the extraordinary thing about creativity: If just you keep your mind resting against the subject in a friendly but persistent way, sooner or later you will get a reward from your unconscious.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creativity flourishes when approached with a relaxed and persistent mindset.
John Cleese emphasizes the importance of maintaining a relaxed yet focused attitude toward creativity. By allowing your unconscious mind to engage with a subject over time, you increase the likelihood of experiencing a burst of inspiration or insight, which can lead to innovation or artistic expression.
Themes
CreativityMindsetInspirationUnconsciousReward
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about the creative process.
More from John Cleese
All quotes →Because, as we all know, it’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking. And it’s also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that we’re not so sure about.
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If you are leaping a ravine, the moment of takeoff is a bad time to be considering alternative strategies.
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I used to desire many, many things, but now I have just one desire, and that's to get rid of all my other desires.
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When the target audience is American teenage kids, you can have problems. My generation prized really fine acting and writing. Sometimes you have to go back to the basic principles which underpin great visual comedy.
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