--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The creative is always an act of…" description: "\"The creative is always an act of recombination, with something added by new juxtaposition—as making a spark requires two things struck together.\" — Jan..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/90d/jane-hirshfield-2649_creative_the-creative-is-always-an-act-of-recombi_596699.png" --- # The creative is always an act of recombination, with… ![“The creative is always an act of recombination, with something added by new juxtaposition—as making a spark requires two things struck together.” quote by Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/90d/jane-hirshfield-2649_creative_the-creative-is-always-an-act-of-recombi_596699.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/90d/jane-hirshfield-2649_creative_the-creative-is-always-an-act-of-recombi_596699.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/90d/jane-hirshfield-2649_creative_the-creative-is-always-an-act-of-recombi_596699.png) > “The creative is always an act of recombination, with something added by new juxtaposition—as making a spark requires two things struck together.” [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Creativity arises by combining existing ideas in new ways, producing a spark when elements collide. **In simple terms:** New ideas form by mixing old ones. Key Takeaway Seek fresh pairings of concepts. Themes creativity innovation combination Mood inspired curious Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - artistic projects - product design - problem solving - writing - research Key Concepts cognitive synthesis emergent insight Questions to Reflect On - How can you intentionally create novel juxtapositions? - What old ideas can you merge today? A Different Perspective May overlook the need for original thought beyond recombination. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Creative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative/) [Creativity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creativity/) [Juxtaposition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/juxtaposition/) ## Related quotes > [You can't invent something you have no epistemological access to. In a way, it's all recombination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elif-batuman/you-can-t-invent-something-you-have-no-epistemological-access-to-in-a/) [Elif Batuman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elif-batuman/) > [An invention or new combination can be successful only if all if the elements necessary for the recombination are present in the culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-farb/an-invention-or-new-combination-can-be-successful-only-if-all-if-the/) [Peter Farb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-farb/) > [You start by copying other people's paintings or music or whatever. You get all of those skills before you branch out. Really creative people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-blackmore/you-start-by-copying-other-people-s-paintings-or-music-or-whatever/) [Susan Blackmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-blackmore/) > [Through the miracle of natural genetic recombination, each child, with the sole exception of an identical twin, is conceived as a unique being. Even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-ullman/through-the-miracle-of-natural-genetic-recombination-each-child-with/) [Ellen Ullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-ullman/) > [Creativity is that marvelous capacity to grasp mutually distinct realities and draw a spark from their juxtaposition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-ernst/creativity-is-that-marvelous-capacity-to-grasp-mutually-distinct/) [Max Ernst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-ernst/) > [Words are not pebbles in alien juxtaposition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/learned-hand/words-are-not-pebbles-in-alien-juxtaposition/) [Learned Hand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/learned-hand/) > [Someone on Twitter sent me a page from a textbook. It had a picture of a football player next to a picture of me.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-silverman/someone-on-twitter-sent-me-a-page-from-a-textbook-it-had-a-picture-of/) [Sarah Silverman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-silverman/) > [I’ve always liked edges, places where one thing becomes another…… transition zones, boundaries and borderlands. I like the mixing that happens, the juxtapositions, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-connors/i-ve-always-liked-edges-places-where-one-thing-becomes-another/) [Philip Connors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-connors/) > [There's a lot of situations where I feel irony involved when R&B and hip-hop is expressed in the indie worlds. There's a lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/solange-knowles/there-s-a-lot-of-situations-where-i-feel-irony-involved-when-r-b-and/) [Solange Knowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/solange-knowles/) > [To create is to relate. We trust in the artist in everybody to make his own connections, his own juxtapositions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corita-kent/to-create-is-to-relate-we-trust-in-the-artist-in-everybody-to-make/) [Corita Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corita-kent/) > [I'm definitely a fan of juxtaposition. Using the most beautiful line to say the most horrific thing - I think one of the main…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rufus-wainwright/i-m-definitely-a-fan-of-juxtaposition-using-the-most-beautiful-line/) [Rufus Wainwright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rufus-wainwright/) > [Portishead's production is just insane beats you would expect to be on a KRS-One album. But then there's this little white girl with an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anders-holm/portishead-s-production-is-just-insane-beats-you-would-expect-to-be/) [Anders Holm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anders-holm/) > [ \['Dad's Army' show\]was a military thing but also very funny, so it's kind of the two things that I experienced by being a soldier,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rhys-darby/dad-s-army-show-was-a-military-thing-but-also-very-funny-so-it-s-kind/) [Rhys Darby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rhys-darby/) > [Justice is juxtaposition in us Justice for all just ain't specific enough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/common/justice-is-juxtaposition-in-us-justice-for-all-just-ain-t-specific/) [Common](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/common/) > [I use biography, I use literary connections (as with Platen - this seems to me extremely helpful for appreciating the nuances of Mann's and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/i-use-biography-i-use-literary-connections-as-with-platen-this-seems/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) ## More by Jane Hirshfield > [I don't have a cell phone (though for years I've kept saying, "soon").](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-don-t-have-a-cell-phone-though-for-years-i-ve-kept-saying-soon/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [I once was asked to contribute to a mushroom poem anthology. I didn't have anything, and so instead ended up writing the introduction. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-once-was-asked-to-contribute-to-a-mushroom-poem-anthology-i-didn-t/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Everything has two endings- a horse, a piece of string, a phone call. Before a life, air. And after. As silence is not silence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/everything-has-two-endings-a-horse-a-piece-of-string-a-phone-call/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [A certain amount of housekeeping also goes on in my poems. I wash doorknobs, do dishes, mop floors, patch carpets, cook.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/a-certain-amount-of-housekeeping-also-goes-on-in-my-poems-i-wash/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Self carries grief as a pack mule carries the side bags, being careful between the trees to leave extra room.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/self-carries-grief-as-a-pack-mule-carries-the-side-bags-being-careful/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [My job as a human being as well as a writer is to feel as thoroughly as possible the experience that I am part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/my-job-as-a-human-being-as-well-as-a-writer-is-to-feel-as-thoroughly/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [I want to preserve a certain unknowing about my own poems - perhaps because unknowing is in itself a useful poetic thirst. To move…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-want-to-preserve-a-certain-unknowing-about-my-own-poems-perhaps/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Habit, laziness, and fear conspire to keep us comfortably within the familiar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/habit-laziness-and-fear-conspire-to-keep-us-comfortably-within-the/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [In order to gain anything, you must first lose everything](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/in-order-to-gain-anything-you-must-first-lose-everything/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [The same words come from each mouth differently.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/the-same-words-come-from-each-mouth-differently/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Metaphors think with the imagination and the senses. The hot chili peppers in them explode in the mouth and the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/metaphors-think-with-the-imagination-and-the-senses-the-hot-chili/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Your fate is to be yourself, both punishment and crime.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/your-fate-is-to-be-yourself-both-punishment-and-crime/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Near even a candle, the visible heat. So it is with a person in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/near-even-a-candle-the-visible-heat-so-it-is-with-a-person-in-love/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [At some point I realized that you don't get a full human life if you try to cut off one end of it, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/at-some-point-i-realized-that-you-don-t-get-a-full-human-life-if-you/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Immensity is always there, but we so often become numb to it, or deceive ourselves into thinking our own lives and selves are what's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/immensity-is-always-there-but-we-so-often-become-numb-to-it-or/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) [Explore all 156 Jane Hirshfield quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) ## More Creative quotes > [An artist's creative energy is ephemeral as a flower. It blooms and soon dies. No artist is great forever. Personally, I think I reached…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-ki-duk/an-artist-s-creative-energy-is-ephemeral-as-a-flower-it-blooms-and/) [Kim Ki-duk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-ki-duk/) > [When you're being truly creative, time stands still, and you enter a dimension that can carry you beyond the ordinariness of everyday life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denise-linn/when-you-re-being-truly-creative-time-stands-still-and-you-enter-a/) [Denise Linn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denise-linn/) > [I started off playing by ear, and being around a bunch of musicians and playing in the streets and in the different parades and,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/troy-andrews/i-started-off-playing-by-ear-and-being-around-a-bunch-of-musicians/) [Troy Andrews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/troy-andrews/) > [Can you imagine any better example of divine creative accomplishment that the consummate flying machine that is a bird? The skeleton, very flexible and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-murchie/can-you-imagine-any-better-example-of-divine-creative-accomplishment/) [Guy Murchie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-murchie/) > [Money is only used for two things. One, it's to make you comfortable, and the more comfortable you are the more creative you will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-proctor/money-is-only-used-for-two-things-one-it-s-to-make-you-comfortable/) [Bob Proctor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-proctor/) > [Beware of self-indulgence. The romance surrounding the writing profession carries several myths: that one must suffer in order to be creative; that one must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brin/beware-of-self-indulgence-the-romance-surrounding-the-writing/) [David Brin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brin/) > [I can't let fear kill my creative brain. Fear is the killer. Your bad choices come from fear. And I'm constantly combating fear. I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-m-chu/i-can-t-let-fear-kill-my-creative-brain-fear-is-the-killer-your-bad/) [Jon M. Chu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-m-chu/) > [Many humanists have argued that happiness involves a combination of hedonism and creative moral development; that an exuberant life fuses excellence and enjoyment, meaning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-kurtz/many-humanists-have-argued-that-happiness-involves-a-combination-of/) [Paul Kurtz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-kurtz/) > [The creative strength is good enough and deep enough to bring itself to flower and to grow in spite of this sickness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanne-greenberg/the-creative-strength-is-good-enough-and-deep-enough-to-bring-itself/) [Joanne Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanne-greenberg/) > [Anytime I get the chance to sing or work with Michael John, it is such an incredibly fertile and incredibly creative and safe and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audra-mcdonald/anytime-i-get-the-chance-to-sing-or-work-with-michael-john-it-is-such/) [Audra McDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audra-mcdonald/) > [What Sri Chinmoy does is God-given! He has a tremendous, a fantastic creative urge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ravi-shankar/what-sri-chinmoy-does-is-god-given-he-has-a-tremendous-a-fantastic/) [Ravi Shankar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ravi-shankar/) > [Majority decisions tend to be made without engaging the systematic thought and critical thinking skills of the individuals in the group. Given the force…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/majority-decisions-tend-to-be-made-without-engaging-the-systematic/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [when times are tough, the weak bail and the tough get creative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelley-armstrong/when-times-are-tough-the-weak-bail-and-the-tough-get-creative/) [Kelley Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelley-armstrong/) > [Teasing out the way the world might look through another's eyes is what makes the creative process so fascinating and enjoyable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/teasing-out-the-way-the-world-might-look-through-another-s-eyes-is/) [Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/) > [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/) [Browse all 7,284 Creative quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The creative is always an act of recombination, with something added by new juxtaposition—as making a spark requires two things struck together.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jane Hirshfield" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/the-creative-is-always-an-act-of-recombination-with-something-added/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Creative" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/the-creative-is-always-an-act-of-recombination-with-something-added/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/90d/jane-hirshfield-2649_creative_the-creative-is-always-an-act-of-recombi_596699.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/90d/jane-hirshfield-2649_creative_the-creative-is-always-an-act-of-recombi_596699.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/90d/jane-hirshfield-2649_creative_the-creative-is-always-an-act-of-recombi_596699.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The creative is always an act of recombination, with something added by new juxtaposition—as making a spark…” — Jane Hirshfield", "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": "Jane Hirshfield", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The creative is always an act...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/the-creative-is-always-an-act-of-recombination-with-something-added/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/the-creative-is-always-an-act-of-recombination-with-something-added/#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 } } ] } ```