The inconsistency of genius is a consistent theme of creativity.

Every creative story is different. And every creative story is the same. There was nothing. Now there is something. It's almost like magic.

Creativity is not a trait that we inherit in our genes or a blessing bestowed by the angels. It's a skill.

[It's] troubling because it reminds us how difficult it is to prove anything. We like to pretend that our experiments define the truth for us. But that's often not the case. 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. When the experiments are done, we still have to choose what to believe.

People assume that they perceive reality as it is, that our senses accurately record the outside world. Yet the science suggests that, in important ways, people experience reality not as it is, but as they expect it to be.

It's a hard thing to describe. It's just this sense that you got something to say.

It is ironic but true: the one reality science cannot reduce is the only reality we will ever know. This is why we need art. By expressing our actual experience, the artist reminds us that our science is incomplete, that no map of matter will ever explain the immateriality of our consciousness.