Every really good creative person in advertising has always had two noticeable characteristics. First, there was no subject he could not easily get interested in...Second, he was an extensive browser in all sorts of fields of information. For it is with the advertising man as with the cow: no browsing, no milk.

Thus, words being symbols of ideas, we can collect ideas by collecting words. The fellow who said he tried reading the dictionary but couldn't get the hang of the story simply missed the point: namely, that it is a collection of short stories.

Drop the whole subject and put it out of your mind and let your subconscious do its thing.

We tend to forget that words are, themselves, ideas. They might be called ideas in a state of suspended animation. When the words are mastered the ideas tend to come alive again.

An idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements.

A good idea has self-expanding qualities. It stimulates those who see it to add to it.

Do not make the mistake of holding your idea close to your chest… Submit it to the criticism of the judicious.