Such self-transformation is the most difficult and dangerous challenge to the imagination, and it is the most rewarding. Meeting it is only possible for the person whose mind is open to contradictions and well-practiced in free conjecture.

The goal of discoverers is not to outdistance their peers, but to transcend themselves.

To be open to inspiration, one must cultivate a leaning for the problematic, a chronic attraction to things that do not totally fit, agree, or make sense. Inspired ideas are less often solutions to old problems than newly discovered or totally reformulated problems - problems 'created' like brilliant works of art.

The reason so many promises are not kept is the same as the reason they are made in the first place.

We pamper the present like a spoiled child, obeying its superficial demands but ignoring its real needs.

We are wistful about the golden days of the past and dream of a distant future unclouded by necessity. But I suspect that if our inner souls were asked what in life they really missed, the answer would be primal danger and stress.

Those who labor for bread or money alone are condemned to their reward.