--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The thing about imagination is that by…" description: "\"The thing about imagination is that by the very act of putting it down, there must be some truth in one's own imagination.\" — Dennis Potter" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/956/dennis-potter-13787_imagination_the-thing-about-imagination-is-that-by-t_1373225.png" --- # The thing about imagination is that by the very act of… ![“The thing about imagination is that by the very act of putting it down, there must be some truth in one's own imagination.” quote by Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/956/dennis-potter-13787_imagination_the-thing-about-imagination-is-that-by-t_1373225.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/956/dennis-potter-13787_imagination_the-thing-about-imagination-is-that-by-t_1373225.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/956/dennis-potter-13787_imagination_the-thing-about-imagination-is-that-by-t_1373225.png) > “The thing about imagination is that by the very act of putting it down, there must be some truth in one's own imagination.” [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Writing imagination forces the author to confront hidden truths within their own mind. **In simple terms:** Imagination reveals personal truths when expressed. Key Takeaway Write to uncover inner truths. Themes creativity self‑discovery truth writing imagination Mood introspective inspirational Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - journaling - creative workshops - therapy sessions Key Concepts psychology literature self‑reflection Questions to Reflect On - What truths emerge when you write? - How does imagination shape self‑knowledge? A Different Perspective May project false truths onto imagination. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Imagination Act](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination-act-3793547/) [Putting Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/putting-truth-1579717/) [Thing Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thing-imagination-631619/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Truth Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth-imagination-1917409/) ## Related quotes > [Can imagination act Perpendicular to fact? Can it be a kite that flies Till the Earth , umbrella-wise, Folds and drops away from sight?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-jose-farmer/can-imagination-act-perpendicular-to-fact-can-it-be-a-kite-that-flies/) [Philip Jose Farmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-jose-farmer/) > [An act of imagination is an act of self-acceptance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/an-act-of-imagination-is-an-act-of-self-acceptance/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that as truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-carson/i-have-no-problem-with-being-vetted-what-i-do-have-a-problem-with-is/) [Benjamin Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-carson/) > [“The simple act of putting your truth on paper, only you and your thoughts, is one of the most powerful exercises you can do.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamal-ravikant/the-simple-act-of-putting-your-truth-on-paper-only-you-and-your/) [Kamal Ravikant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamal-ravikant/) > [An idea is a putting truth in check-mate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/an-idea-is-a-putting-truth-in-check-mate/) [Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/) > [“Putting thoughts into words is vastly different from putting truth into words. For words are not truth. As ardently as writers sort and select…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-fisher/putting-thoughts-into-words-is-vastly-different-from-putting-truth/) [Lionel Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-fisher/) > [There's not much you can do about the bias of the media other than try to counteract it by putting the truth out best…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-paul/there-s-not-much-you-can-do-about-the-bias-of-the-media-other-than/) [Ron Paul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-paul/) > [Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/reason-is-the-natural-order-of-truth-but-imagination-is-the-organ-of/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [For me, reason is the natural organ of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning. Imagination, producing new metaphors or revivifying old, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-me-reason-is-the-natural-organ-of-truth-but-imagination-is-the-2/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I am certain of nothing but the Holiness of the Heart's affections and the Truth of the Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keats/i-am-certain-of-nothing-but-the-holiness-of-the-heart-s-affections/) [John Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keats/) > [I think that all things, in their way, reflect heavenly truth, the imagination not least.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/i-think-that-all-things-in-their-way-reflect-heavenly-truth-the/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [It is the human condition to question one god after another, one appearance after another, or better, one apparition after another, always pursuing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-chartier/it-is-the-human-condition-to-question-one-god-after-another-one/) [Emile Chartier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-chartier/) > [“For me, reason is the natural organ of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.”16”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-arthur/for-me-reason-is-the-natural-organ-of-truth-but-imagination-is-the/) [Sarah Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-arthur/) > [I believe fervently in the nature, in truth and imagination, I believe in the blood, in life, words, and motivations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gael-garcia-bernal/i-believe-fervently-in-the-nature-in-truth-and-imagination-i-believe/) [Gael Garcia Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gael-garcia-bernal/) > [Romance is the truth of imagination and boyhood. Homer's horses clear the world at a bound. The child's eye needs no horizon to its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/romance-is-the-truth-of-imagination-and-boyhood-homer-s-horses-clear/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) ## More by Dennis Potter > [Television's Mr. Filth: that's me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/television-s-mr-filth-that-s-me/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [We should always look back on our own past with a sort of contempt, as long as the tenderness is there - but please…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/we-should-always-look-back-on-our-own-past-with-a-sort-of-contempt-as/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [“My only regret is to die four pages too soon.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/my-only-regret-is-to-die-four-pages-too-soon/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [As a piece of literacy criticism, Freud's best writing is about Dostoyevsky. It's a kind of displaced literacy criticism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/as-a-piece-of-literacy-criticism-freud-s-best-writing-is-about/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [Words themselves - the very material of our discourse increasingly take on masks or disguises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/words-themselves-the-very-material-of-our-discourse-increasingly-take/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [The loss of Eden is personally experienced by every one of us as we leave the wonder and magic and also the pains and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/the-loss-of-eden-is-personally-experienced-by-every-one-of-us-as-we/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [Therapy, as opposed to analysis, is a whole construct of myth, beautiful and creative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/therapy-as-opposed-to-analysis-is-a-whole-construct-of-myth-beautiful/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [Metaphor is embodied in language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/metaphor-is-embodied-in-language/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [I have been aware, from the age of 6, that I had talent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/i-have-been-aware-from-the-age-of-6-that-i-had-talent/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [I was given talent, and if you are given it, it is your obligation to use it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/i-was-given-talent-and-if-you-are-given-it-it-is-your-obligation-to/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [The strangest thing that human speech and human writing can do is create a metaphor. That is an amazing leap, is it not?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/the-strangest-thing-that-human-speech-and-human-writing-can-do-is/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [People endure what they endure and they deal with it. It may corrupt them. It may lead them into all sorts of compensatory excesses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/people-endure-what-they-endure-and-they-deal-with-it-it-may-corrupt/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [You just don't know writers. They'll use anything, anybody. They'll eat their young.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/you-just-don-t-know-writers-they-ll-use-anything-anybody-they-ll-eat/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [Ideals jump across the hierarchies of the printed word.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/ideals-jump-across-the-hierarchies-of-the-printed-word/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) > [“Nigel Barton:Everyone says 'Up at Oxford'. You come 'down' when you've finished there. Harry Barton: Well, what's this then? Does bloody Oxford move up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/nigel-barton-everyone-says-up-at-oxford-you-come-down-when-you-ve/) [Dennis Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) [Explore all 46 Dennis Potter quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/) ## More Imagination quotes > [Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/social-responsibility-above-the-level-of-family-or-at-most-of-tribe/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/a-rock-pile-ceases-to-be-a-rock-pile-the-moment-a-single-man/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [Imagination is the greatest nation in the world!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-proctor/imagination-is-the-greatest-nation-in-the-world/) [Bob Proctor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-proctor/) > [Merkel has realized that the euro is not working, but she cannot change the narrative she has created because that narrative has caught the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-soros/merkel-has-realized-that-the-euro-is-not-working-but-she-cannot/) [George Soros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-soros/) > [Life is what you make it¦If one refuses to use ones imagination..it will be boring.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-what-you-make-it-if-one-refuses-to-use-ones-imagination-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Jonah Lehrer is one of the most talented explainers of science that we’ve got. What a pleasure it is to follow his investigation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-foer/jonah-lehrer-is-one-of-the-most-talented-explainers-of-science-that/) [Joshua Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-foer/) > [If you've got creativity, imagination, and intelligence, and you want to be hypnotised, then there's no reason you shouldn't be able to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-barry/if-you-ve-got-creativity-imagination-and-intelligence-and-you-want-to/) [Keith Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-barry/) > [“The power of imagination is strongest in the place of solitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/the-power-of-imagination-is-strongest-in-the-place-of-solitude/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [A beard is something that is almost like a mirror to the viewer. When someone sees you wearing a beard, they're seeing something in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/a-beard-is-something-that-is-almost-like-a-mirror-to-the-viewer-when/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [I like fantasy, but I don't live and breathe fantasy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-schmidt-hissrich/i-like-fantasy-but-i-don-t-live-and-breathe-fantasy/) [Lauren Schmidt Hissrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-schmidt-hissrich/) > [While the world of reality has its limits, the world of your imagination is without boundaries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-dyer/while-the-world-of-reality-has-its-limits-the-world-of-your/) [Wayne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-dyer/) > [Edgy is fine - I'm not a prude by any stretch of the imagination - but what's wrong with a good ol' belly laugh?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-burnett/edgy-is-fine-i-m-not-a-prude-by-any-stretch-of-the-imagination-but/) [Carol Burnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-burnett/) > [With VR, we have this same vision, which is create this ultimate platform for sharing your imagination. Our huge community of 300,000 developers creates…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-baszucki/with-vr-we-have-this-same-vision-which-is-create-this-ultimate/) [David Baszucki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-baszucki/) > [I like the idea of letting the music do its own work and the stories being more expressionful - if that's a word -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-flynn/i-like-the-idea-of-letting-the-music-do-its-own-work-and-the-stories/) [Johnny Flynn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-flynn/) [Browse all 9,060 Imagination quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The thing about imagination is that by the very act of putting it down, there must be some truth in one's own imagination.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Dennis Potter" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/the-thing-about-imagination-is-that-by-the-very-act-of-putting-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Imagination" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/the-thing-about-imagination-is-that-by-the-very-act-of-putting-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/956/dennis-potter-13787_imagination_the-thing-about-imagination-is-that-by-t_1373225.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/956/dennis-potter-13787_imagination_the-thing-about-imagination-is-that-by-t_1373225.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/956/dennis-potter-13787_imagination_the-thing-about-imagination-is-that-by-t_1373225.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The thing about imagination is that by the very act of putting it down, there must be some truth in one's…” — Dennis Potter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Dennis Potter", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-potter/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The thing about imagination is that...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/the-thing-about-imagination-is-that-by-the-very-act-of-putting-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-potter/the-thing-about-imagination-is-that-by-the-very-act-of-putting-it/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```