4 ms·

Someone once said that madness was necessary for creating. Does anybody know who it was? Can't find it.

mustpax 16y ago
Maybe this is what you're thinking of, it's by Nietzsche. One must have chaos within oneself, to give birth to a dancing star.
- albertcardona 16y ago
  If it isn't, it is in any case a great sentence. Thank you.
Saint_loup 16y ago
Lot of people said that, in a way or another.
mturmon 16y ago
One version, by John Dryden (1681): Great wits are sure to madness near allied, and thin partitions do their bounds divide.
axod 16y ago
"A little madness now and then, is relished by the wisest men" - Mr Willy Wonka.
- albertcardona 16y ago
  "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" must have been where I read it, ages ago. Thank you!
BRadmin 16y ago
It's interesting because Wolfram quotes Feynman as saying: "Peace of mind is the most important prerequisite for creative work." http://www.stephenwolfram.com/publications/recent/feynman/ http://www.stephenwolfram.com/publications/recent/feynman/
- danielnicollet 16y ago
  I think you can be a peaceful nut-case though. I am the living proof ;-) No seriously though, "peace of mind" and "madness" or insanity are not necessarily contrary to one another.
- JCThoughtscream 16y ago
  Peace of mind can just as easily be interpreted as "comfort within one's madness."
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
- hugh3 16y ago
  "The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth." Niels Bohr
  - Perceval 16y ago
    Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli once dismissed a muddled analysis of a physics problem saying, "It's not right. It's not even wrong."
icey 16y ago
Either Aristotle or Seneca said "There was never a great genius without a tincture of madness".
fizx 16y ago
Perhaps: The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
hassenben 16y ago
I believe this is what you're thinking of. “No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.” -- Aristotle “There is no great genius without some touch of madness.” -- Seneca

Maybe this is what you're thinking of, it's by Nietzsche. One must have chaos within oneself, to give birth to a dancing star.

albertcardona 16y ago
If it isn't, it is in any case a great sentence. Thank you.

Saint_loup 16y ago

Lot of people said that, in a way or another.

mturmon 16y ago

One version, by John Dryden (1681): Great wits are sure to madness near allied, and thin partitions do their bounds divide.

axod 16y ago

"A little madness now and then, is relished by the wisest men" - Mr Willy Wonka.

albertcardona 16y ago
"Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" must have been where I read it, ages ago. Thank you!

BRadmin 16y ago

It's interesting because Wolfram quotes Feynman as saying: "Peace of mind is the most important prerequisite for creative work." http://www.stephenwolfram.com/publications/recent/feynman/ http://www.stephenwolfram.com/publications/recent/feynman/

danielnicollet 16y ago
I think you can be a peaceful nut-case though. I am the living proof ;-) No seriously though, "peace of mind" and "madness" or insanity are not necessarily contrary to one another.
JCThoughtscream 16y ago
Peace of mind can just as easily be interpreted as "comfort within one's madness."
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
hugh3 16y ago
"The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth." Niels Bohr
- Perceval 16y ago
  Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli once dismissed a muddled analysis of a physics problem saying, "It's not right. It's not even wrong."

icey 16y ago

Either Aristotle or Seneca said "There was never a great genius without a tincture of madness".

fizx 16y ago

Perhaps: The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw

hassenben 16y ago

I believe this is what you're thinking of. “No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.” -- Aristotle “There is no great genius without some touch of madness.” -- Seneca