--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If you knew it all it would not be…" description: "\"If you knew it all it would not be creation but dictation.\" — Gertrude Stein" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b29/gertrude-stein-667_creation_if-you-knew-it-all-it-would-not-be-creat_3100234.jpg" --- # If you knew it all it would not be creation but dictation. ![“If you knew it all it would not be creation but dictation.” quote by Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b29/gertrude-stein-667_creation_if-you-knew-it-all-it-would-not-be-creat_3100234.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b29/gertrude-stein-667_creation_if-you-knew-it-all-it-would-not-be-creat_3100234.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b29/gertrude-stein-667_creation_if-you-knew-it-all-it-would-not-be-creat_3100234.jpg) > “If you knew it all it would not be creation but dictation.” [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Creation requires originality; dictation merely repeats existing ideas. **In simple terms:** Original creation beats copying. Key Takeaway Cultivate unique ideas, avoid mere repetition. Themes creativity originality authorship intellectual freedom Mood inspirational thoughtful Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - writing workshops - artistic collaboration - education curricula Key Concepts philosophy of art creative process innovation Questions to Reflect On - What ideas feel truly yours? - How do you resist copying? A Different Perspective Originality can be stifled by external expectations. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Creation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creation/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) ## Related quotes > [War is an evil thing; but to submit to the dictation of other states is worse… Freedom, if we hold fast to it, will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thucydides/war-is-an-evil-thing-but-to-submit-to-the-dictation-of-other-states/) [Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thucydides/) > [I would love to employ a man, but how can I possibly give a man dictation from the bath?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-cartland/i-would-love-to-employ-a-man-but-how-can-i-possibly-give-a-man/) [Barbara Cartland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-cartland/) > [The best, most natural dialogue is usually written as if the writer is listening to dictation. You might get stuck on any particular point…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/the-best-most-natural-dialogue-is-usually-written-as-if-the-writer-is/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Sometimes the impressions are just general feelings. Sometimes the direction comes so clearly and so unmistakably that it can be written down like spiritual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-g-scott/sometimes-the-impressions-are-just-general-feelings-sometimes-the/) [Richard G. Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-g-scott/) > [What is Americanism? Every one has a different answer. Some people say it is never to submit to the dictation of a King. Others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-howard-shaw/what-is-americanism-every-one-has-a-different-answer-some-people-say/) [Anna Howard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-howard-shaw/) > [Nail polish or false eyelashes isn't politics. If you have good politics, what you wear is irrelevant. I don't take dictation from the pig-o-cratic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florynce-kennedy/nail-polish-or-false-eyelashes-isn-t-politics-if-you-have-good/) [Florynce Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florynce-kennedy/) > [I never exactly made a book. It's rather like taking dictation. I was given things to say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-never-exactly-made-a-book-it-s-rather-like-taking-dictation-i-was/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm a situational writer. You give me a situation, like a writer gets in a car crash, breaks his leg, is kidnapped by his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/i-m-a-situational-writer-you-give-me-a-situation-like-a-writer-gets-2/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [ \[The married woman is\] is a bonded slave, who takes her master's name, her master's bread, and serves her master's passion; \[and\] who passes… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltairine-de-cleyre/the-married-woman-is-is-a-bonded-slave-who-takes-her-master-s-name/) [Voltairine de Cleyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltairine-de-cleyre/) > [Is not the real experience of each individual very limited? And, if a writer dwells upon that solely or principally, is he not in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/is-not-the-real-experience-of-each-individual-very-limited-and-if-a/) [Charlotte Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [I have a feeling that art is something you do for yourself, and that any time you turn your decisions over to someone else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-stafford/i-have-a-feeling-that-art-is-something-you-do-for-yourself-and-that/) [William Stafford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-stafford/) > [You can't sort of write the novel as if you're taking dictation from heaven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/you-can-t-sort-of-write-the-novel-as-if-you-re-taking-dictation-from/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) > [I wrote before I could write. I got my hands on a journal, maybe a hand-me-down; I had three older siblings. My first entries…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julianna-baggott/i-wrote-before-i-could-write-i-got-my-hands-on-a-journal-maybe-a-hand/) [Julianna Baggott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julianna-baggott/) > [It's a question of trying to take down by dictation what's already there. I'm not making something, I'm trying to hear it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-oswald/it-s-a-question-of-trying-to-take-down-by-dictation-what-s-already/) [Alice Oswald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-oswald/) > [“Do Not Dictate a Child through Someone, it Ruins the Child's Experience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vineet-raj-kapoor/do-not-dictate-a-child-through-someone-it-ruins-the-child-s-experience/) [Vineet Raj Kapoor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vineet-raj-kapoor/) ## More by Gertrude Stein > [I certainly do care for you Jeff Campbell less than you are always thinking and much more than you are ever knowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/i-certainly-do-care-for-you-jeff-campbell-less-than-you-are-always/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [Americans are very friendly and very suspicious, that is what Americans are and that is what always upsets the foreigner, who deals with them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/americans-are-very-friendly-and-very-suspicious-that-is-what/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [Just as everybody has the vote including women, I think children should, because as a child is conscious of itself then it has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/just-as-everybody-has-the-vote-including-women-i-think-children/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [“When is there some discharge when. There never is.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/when-is-there-some-discharge-when-there-never-is/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [There is no such thing as repetition. Only insistance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/there-is-no-such-thing-as-repetition-only-insistance/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [I am I because my little dog knows me but, creatively speaking the little dog knowing that you are you and your recognising that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/i-am-i-because-my-little-dog-knows-me-but-creatively-speaking-the/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [How likely are definitions to be pleasurable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/how-likely-are-definitions-to-be-pleasurable/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [ “What is the answer?" \[ I \[Alice B Toklas\] was silent \] In that case, what is the question?” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/what-is-the-answer-i-alice-b-toklas-was-silent-in-that-case-what-is/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [More and more I like to take a train. I understand why the French prefer it to automobiling it is so much more sociable,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/more-and-more-i-like-to-take-a-train-i-understand-why-the-french/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [Adventure is making the distant approach nearer but romance is having what is where it is which is not where you are stay where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/adventure-is-making-the-distant-approach-nearer-but-romance-is-having/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [Forensics is eloquence and reduction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/forensics-is-eloquence-and-reduction/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [Eating and sleeping are not like loving and breathing. Washing is not like eating and sleeping. Believing is like breathing and loving. Religion can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/eating-and-sleeping-are-not-like-loving-and-breathing-washing-is-not/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [I write for myself and strangers. The strangers, dear Readers, are an afterthought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/i-write-for-myself-and-strangers-the-strangers-dear-readers-are-an/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [“A bag which was left and not only taken but turned away was not found. The place was shown to be very like the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/a-bag-which-was-left-and-not-only-taken-but-turned-away-was-not-found/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [I don't envisage collectivism. There is no such animal, it is always individualism, sometimes the rest vote and sometimes they do not, and if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/i-don-t-envisage-collectivism-there-is-no-such-animal-it-is-always/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) [Explore all 418 Gertrude Stein quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) ## More Creation quotes > [“am not suggesting that successes in academics, athletics, or vocation somehow stand outside God’s good plan. Learning and play are joys that God himself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-paul-jones/am-not-suggesting-that-successes-in-academics-athletics-or-vocation/) [Timothy Paul Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-paul-jones/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [Let me tell you that atheism has never painted a masterpiece. Atheism has never dispelled fear. Atheism has never healed a disease; faith in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hagee/let-me-tell-you-that-atheism-has-never-painted-a-masterpiece-atheism/) [John Hagee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hagee/) > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [Like many other scientists who hold the Catholic faith, I see the Creator's plan and purpose fulfilled in our universe. I see a planet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-r-miller/like-many-other-scientists-who-hold-the-catholic-faith-i-see-the/) [Kenneth R. Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-r-miller/) > [And wheresoever, in his rich creation, Sweet music breathes--in wave, or bird, or soul-- 'Tis but the faint and far reverberation Of that great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-sargent-osgood/and-wheresoever-in-his-rich-creation-sweet-music-breathes-in-wave-or/) [Frances Sargent Osgood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-sargent-osgood/) > [I believe if there is a creator it will basically ask me two questions, how well did you enjoy my creation and what did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-victor-paskavich/i-believe-if-there-is-a-creator-it-will-basically-ask-me-two/) [Stanley Victor Paskavich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-victor-paskavich/) > [With no other choices open to us, we'd turned our gaze seaward. The oceans were our America: they reached farther than any prairie, untamed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carsten-jensen/with-no-other-choices-open-to-us-we-d-turned-our-gaze-seaward-the/) [Carsten Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carsten-jensen/) > [In the quiet moments of your day, what do you think and do? When you are with your Self and no one else, how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neale-donald-walsch/in-the-quiet-moments-of-your-day-what-do-you-think-and-do-when-you/) [Neale Donald Walsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neale-donald-walsch/) > [The creation lives as genesis beneath the visible surface of the work. All intelligent people see this after the fact, but only the creative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/the-creation-lives-as-genesis-beneath-the-visible-surface-of-the-work/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [When I was in my teens I had a series of intensely religious experiences. They deepened my sense of God as the creator of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-linzey/when-i-was-in-my-teens-i-had-a-series-of-intensely-religious/) [Andrew Linzey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-linzey/) > [If you are trying to live a life in accordance with the Bible, the concept and call to justice are inescapable. We do justice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-keller/if-you-are-trying-to-live-a-life-in-accordance-with-the-bible-the/) [Timothy Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-keller/) > [I think that storytelling and creation are very close to what the center of what magic is about. I think not just for me,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/i-think-that-storytelling-and-creation-are-very-close-to-what-the/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [To be part of the creation, I must act humbly. I'll take that over a goddess any day!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maureen-o-hara/to-be-part-of-the-creation-i-must-act-humbly-i-ll-take-that-over-a/) [Maureen O'Hara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maureen-o-hara/) > [The country of Iraq is somewhat of an artificial creation going back to colonial days. And so you have the Kurds and then the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-clapper/the-country-of-iraq-is-somewhat-of-an-artificial-creation-going-back/) [James Clapper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clapper/) [Browse all 5,225 Creation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If you knew it all it would not be creation but dictation.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gertrude Stein" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/if-you-knew-it-all-it-would-not-be-creation-but-dictation/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Creation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/if-you-knew-it-all-it-would-not-be-creation-but-dictation/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b29/gertrude-stein-667_creation_if-you-knew-it-all-it-would-not-be-creat_3100234.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b29/gertrude-stein-667_creation_if-you-knew-it-all-it-would-not-be-creat_3100234.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b29/gertrude-stein-667_creation_if-you-knew-it-all-it-would-not-be-creat_3100234.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If you knew it all it would not be creation but dictation.” — Gertrude Stein", "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": "Gertrude Stein", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If you knew it all it...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/if-you-knew-it-all-it-would-not-be-creation-but-dictation/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/if-you-knew-it-all-it-would-not-be-creation-but-dictation/#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 } } ] } ```