--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The wild, the absurd, the seemingly…" description: "\"The wild, the absurd, the seemingly crazy: this kind of thinking is where new ideas come from ... The people capable of such playful thought carry forw..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d17/nicholas-negroponte-7911_absurd_the-wild-the-absurd-the-seemingly-crazy_756087.png" --- # The wild, the absurd, the seemingly crazy: this kind of… ![“The wild, the absurd, the seemingly crazy: this kind of thinking is where new ideas come from ... The people capable of such playful thought carry forward their childish qualities and childhood dreams, applying them in areas where most of us get stuck, victims of our adult seriousness. Staying a…” quote by Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d17/nicholas-negroponte-7911_absurd_the-wild-the-absurd-the-seemingly-crazy_756087.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d17/nicholas-negroponte-7911_absurd_the-wild-the-absurd-the-seemingly-crazy_756087.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d17/nicholas-negroponte-7911_absurd_the-wild-the-absurd-the-seemingly-crazy_756087.png) > “The wild, the absurd, the seemingly crazy: this kind of thinking is where new ideas come from ... The people capable of such playful thought carry forward their childish qualities and childhood dreams, applying them in areas where most of us get stuck, victims of our adult seriousness. Staying a child isn't easy.” [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Playful, childlike imagination fuels innovation and breaks adult rigidity. **In simple terms:** Childlike imagination drives new ideas. Key Takeaway Cultivate playful thinking. Themes creativity innovation playfulness learning growth Mood inspirational optimistic thoughtful Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - education - product design - research labs - entrepreneurship - artistic pursuits Key Concepts imagination cognitive flexibility risk taking Questions to Reflect On - When have you let go of seriousness to create? - How can organizations nurture childlike curiosity? A Different Perspective Adult seriousness can stifle imagination. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Absurd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absurd/) [Adults](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adults/) [Childhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childhood/) [Childhood dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childhood-dreams/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [New ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-ideas/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Quality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quality/) [Seriousness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seriousness/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Victim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/victim/) ## Related quotes > [Companies cannot really see beyond their current customer base. They explicitly or implicitly do things to protect their current customers. And the last person…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/companies-cannot-really-see-beyond-their-current-customer-base-they/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [Key is the question of where do new ideas come from. Historically, four places: government labs, big corporations, startup companies, and research universities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/key-is-the-question-of-where-do-new-ideas-come-from-historically-four/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [Remember brick walls let us show our dedication. They are there to separate us from the people who don't really want to achieve their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randy-pausch/remember-brick-walls-let-us-show-our-dedication-they-are-there-to/) [Randy Pausch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randy-pausch/) > [A pony is a childhood dream. A horse is an adulthood treasure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-carroll/a-pony-is-a-childhood-dream-a-horse-is-an-adulthood-treasure/) Rebecca Carroll > [My success has surpassed my childhood dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-leslie/my-success-has-surpassed-my-childhood-dreams/) [Lisa Leslie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-leslie/) > [It's very important to know when you're in a pissing match. And it's very important to get out of it as quickly as possible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randy-pausch/it-s-very-important-to-know-when-you-re-in-a-pissing-match-and-it-s/) [Randy Pausch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randy-pausch/) > [In my childhood dreams, I pictured Italy as paradise. I longed to be the next Sophia Loren, living in a village with winding cobbled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-drinkwater/in-my-childhood-dreams-i-pictured-italy-as-paradise-i-longed-to-be/) [Carol Drinkwater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-drinkwater/) > [To become truly immortal a work of art must escape all human limits: logic and common sense will only interfere. But once these barriers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giorgio-de-chirico/to-become-truly-immortal-a-work-of-art-must-escape-all-human-limits/) [Giorgio de Chirico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giorgio-de-chirico/) > [“... I wrote about ... my childhood, when dreams were small and attainable for all. When sweets were a penny and god was a rabbit.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-winman/i-wrote-about-my-childhood-when-dreams-were-small-and-attainable-for/) [Sarah Winman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-winman/) > [When you reach a certain age, you have fulfilled your childhood dream and whatever your first or second adulthood led you to do. Then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bette-midler/when-you-reach-a-certain-age-you-have-fulfilled-your-childhood-dream/) [Bette Midler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bette-midler/) > [I grew up loving cars. It was completely and utterly, without a doubt, my childhood dream. Whether your childhood dream progresses or changes, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dominic-cooper/i-grew-up-loving-cars-it-was-completely-and-utterly-without-a-doubt/) [Dominic Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dominic-cooper/) > [When you do the right thing, good stuff has a way of happening.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randy-pausch/when-you-do-the-right-thing-good-stuff-has-a-way-of-happening/) [Randy Pausch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randy-pausch/) > [The new album is a childhood dream come true. Got to sing with Ronnie Spector, got to cover a bunch of songs that were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-new-album-is-a-childhood-dream-come-true-got-to-sing-with-ronnie/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My childhood dream was to win the Olympics, and I've done that. Everything else is icing on the cake.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lindsey-vonn/my-childhood-dream-was-to-win-the-olympics-and-i-ve-done-that/) [Lindsey Vonn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lindsey-vonn/) > [While childhood, and while dreams, producing childhood, shall be left, imagination shall not have spread her holy wings totally to fly the earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/while-childhood-and-while-dreams-producing-childhood-shall-be-left/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) ## More by Nicholas Negroponte > [What's the difference between obsolete and cutting edge? Obsolete works.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/what-s-the-difference-between-obsolete-and-cutting-edge-obsolete-works/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [The computer provides the only way to give students a real foundation in 21st-century skills.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/the-computer-provides-the-only-way-to-give-students-a-real-foundation/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [The process of debugging, going an correcting the program and then looking at the behavior, and then correcting it again, and finally iteratively getting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/the-process-of-debugging-going-an-correcting-the-program-and-then/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [I think life's turning into an omelet and people will just have to live with that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/i-think-life-s-turning-into-an-omelet-and-people-will-just-have-to/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [Linux is its own worst enemy: it's splintered, it has different distributions, it's too complex to run for most people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/linux-is-its-own-worst-enemy-it-s-splintered-it-has-different/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [But just as elevators have changed the shape of buildings and cars have changed the shape of cities, bits will change the shape of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/but-just-as-elevators-have-changed-the-shape-of-buildings-and-cars/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [Good education has got to be good entertainment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/good-education-has-got-to-be-good-entertainment/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [Even in the developing parts of the world, kids take to computers like fish to water.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/even-in-the-developing-parts-of-the-world-kids-take-to-computers-like/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [Key is the question of where do new ideas come from. Historically, four places: government labs, big corporations, startup companies, and research universities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/key-is-the-question-of-where-do-new-ideas-come-from-historically-four/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [Everybody agrees that whatever the solutions are to the big problems, they ... can never be without some element of education.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/everybody-agrees-that-whatever-the-solutions-are-to-the-big-problems/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [A Wired reader told me once, Get a life, which I read from the back of a yacht in the Aegean, while eating fresh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/a-wired-reader-told-me-once-get-a-life-which-i-read-from-the-back-of/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [Give One, Get One generated about 100,000 zero-dollar laptops. Somebody else paid for them, but from the recipient's point of view, that's zero.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/give-one-get-one-generated-about-100-000-zero-dollar-laptops-somebody/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [Rote learning is a killer for most of us and for some people, it really excludes them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/rote-learning-is-a-killer-for-most-of-us-and-for-some-people-it/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [It's hard to propose a $100 laptop for a world community of kids and then not say in the same breath that you're going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/it-s-hard-to-propose-a-100-laptop-for-a-world-community-of-kids-and/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [This is just the beginning, the beginning of understanding that cyberspace has no limits, no boundaries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/this-is-just-the-beginning-the-beginning-of-understanding-that/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) [Explore all 86 Nicholas Negroponte quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) ## More Absurd quotes > [“It seem absurd to me that they don't know, haven't felt any change or tremor, even as my life has been completely turned upside…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/it-seem-absurd-to-me-that-they-don-t-know-haven-t-felt-any-change-or/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [When a person’s tongue is extensively wrong, it is absurd, no less than unscriptural, to say that their heart is right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-c-ryle/when-a-person-s-tongue-is-extensively-wrong-it-is-absurd-no-less-than/) [J. C. Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-c-ryle/) > [Every sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the Christian sect in horror." "Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/every-sensible-man-every-honorable-man-must-hold-the-christian-sect/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [It is human nature to think wisely and to act in an absurd fashion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-france/it-is-human-nature-to-think-wisely-and-to-act-in-an-absurd-fashion/) [Anatole France](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-france/) > [It is a dangerous and fateful presumption, besides the absurd temerity that it implies, to disdain what we do not comprehend. For after you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-is-a-dangerous-and-fateful-presumption-besides-the-absurd-temerity/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I thought to myself: if it’s true that every person has a star in the sky, mine must be distant, dim, and absurd. Perhaps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sadegh-hedayat/i-thought-to-myself-if-it-s-true-that-every-person-has-a-star-in-the/) [Sadegh Hedayat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sadegh-hedayat/) > [If, indeed, a firearm were more dangerous to its possessors than to potential aggressors, would it not make sense for the government to arm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mamet/if-indeed-a-firearm-were-more-dangerous-to-its-possessors-than-to/) [David Mamet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mamet/) > [“You were torturing a cat," she says. "With a freaking prod." "A prod I built myself in metal shop," he says. "But of course…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-saunders/you-were-torturing-a-cat-she-says-with-a-freaking-prod-a-prod-i-built/) [George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-saunders/) > [I have never heard enough classical music to be able to enjoy it; & the simple truth is, I detest it. Not mildly, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-have-never-heard-enough-classical-music-to-be-able-to-enjoy-it-the/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [To deprecate human reason by saying that none of us is or can be omniscient is absurd, for it takes an impossible standard as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/murray-rothbard/to-deprecate-human-reason-by-saying-that-none-of-us-is-or-can-be/) [Murray Rothbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/murray-rothbard/) > [“Rachel got up and did this happy little shuffle, like she was some cheerful farmer chick who'd just stepped outside to find the hick…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-saunders/rachel-got-up-and-did-this-happy-little-shuffle-like-she-was-some/) [George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-saunders/) > [The absurd duty, too often inculcated, of obeying a parent only on account of his being a parent, shackles the mind, and prepares it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-wollstonecraft/the-absurd-duty-too-often-inculcated-of-obeying-a-parent-only-on/) [Mary Wollstonecraft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-wollstonecraft/) > [The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/the-workman-of-today-works-every-day-in-his-life-at-the-same-tasks/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [I was once part of a Christmas cabaret. I sang 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.' I tap-danced. I had a ten-gallon hat. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-dinklage/i-was-once-part-of-a-christmas-cabaret-i-sang-i-saw-mommy-kissing/) [Peter Dinklage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-dinklage/) > [Solitude produces originality, bold and astonishing beauty, poetry. But solitude also produces perverseness, the disproportianate, the absurd and the forbidden.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/solitude-produces-originality-bold-and-astonishing-beauty-poetry-but/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) [Browse all 1,644 Absurd quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absurd/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The wild, the absurd, the seemingly crazy: this kind of thinking is where new ideas come from ... The people capable of such playful thought carry forward their childish qualities and childhood dreams, applying them in areas where most of us get stuck, victims of our adult seriousness. 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