--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think there are dozens or hundreds of…" description: "\"I think there are dozens or hundreds of different forms of creativity. Pondering science and math problems for years is different from improvising jazz..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/518/oliver-sacks-2132_creative_i-think-there-are-dozens-or-hundreds-of_705538.jpg" --- # I think there are dozens or hundreds of different forms of… ![“I think there are dozens or hundreds of different forms of creativity. Pondering science and math problems for years is different from improvising jazz. Something which seems to me remarkable is how unconscious the creative process is. You encounter a problem, but can't solve it.” quote by Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/518/oliver-sacks-2132_creative_i-think-there-are-dozens-or-hundreds-of_705538.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/518/oliver-sacks-2132_creative_i-think-there-are-dozens-or-hundreds-of_705538.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/518/oliver-sacks-2132_creative_i-think-there-are-dozens-or-hundreds-of_705538.jpg) > “I think there are dozens or hundreds of different forms of creativity. Pondering science and math problems for years is different from improvising jazz. Something which seems to me remarkable is how unconscious the creative process is. You encounter a problem, but can't solve it.” [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Creativity takes many forms; unconscious mind works on problems until insight emerges. **In simple terms:** Creativity is varied and often unconscious. Key Takeaway Embrace diverse thinking methods. Themes creativity unconscious mind problem solving Mood curious reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - research - music composition - scientific inquiry - writing - design Key Concepts cognitive science neuroscience artistic expression Questions to Reflect On - How can you create space for unconscious insight? - What practices help capture sudden ideas? A Different Perspective Unconscious processes can be hard to harness deliberately. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Creative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative/) [Creative process](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative-process/) [Creativity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creativity/) [Encounters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/encounters/) [Jazz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jazz/) [Math](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/math/) [Math problems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/math-problems/) [Problem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/problem/) [Process](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/process/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [Christians remind me of schoolboys who want to look up the answers to their math problems in the back of the book rather than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soren-kierkegaard/christians-remind-me-of-schoolboys-who-want-to-look-up-the-answers-to/) [Soren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soren-kierkegaard/) > [What's clarity like? 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In fact he'd been thoroughly trounced by competitors who probably spent literally all day practising maths problems…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/he-d-met-other-prodigies-in-mathematical-competitions-in-fact-he-d/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [The problem with cinema nowadays is that it's a math problem. People can read a film mathematically; they know when this comes or that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-winding-refn/the-problem-with-cinema-nowadays-is-that-it-s-a-math-problem-people/) [Nicolas Winding Refn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-winding-refn/) > [Math problems: Jane bought 72 sofas...WHO THE HELL WOULD BUY 72 SOFAS?!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/math-problems-jane-bought-72-sofas-who-the-hell-would-buy-72-sofas/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Theorems are fun especially when you are the prover, but then the pleasure fades. What keeps us going are the unsolved problems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-pomerance/theorems-are-fun-especially-when-you-are-the-prover-but-then-the/) Carl Pomerance > [There are problems to whose solution I would attach an infinitely greater importance than to those of mathematics, for example touching ethics, or our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-friedrich-gauss/there-are-problems-to-whose-solution-i-would-attach-an-infinitely/) [Carl Friedrich Gauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-friedrich-gauss/) > [When I was in school I liked math because all the problems had answers. Everything else seemed very subjective.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-randall/when-i-was-in-school-i-liked-math-because-all-the-problems-had/) [Lisa Randall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-randall/) > [A GREAT discovery solves a great problem but there is a grain of discovery in any problem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-polya/a-great-discovery-solves-a-great-problem-but-there-is-a-grain-of/) [George Polya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-polya/) > [We've lost something that's been with us for so long, and something that drew a lot of us into mathematics. But perhaps that's always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-wiles/we-ve-lost-something-that-s-been-with-us-for-so-long-and-something/) [Andrew Wiles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-wiles/) ## More by Oliver Sacks > [“The feelings are similar, in some ways, to those one has in Rome or Athens, but quite different in other ways, because this culture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/the-feelings-are-similar-in-some-ways-to-those-one-has-in-rome-or/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [But the saddest difference between them was that Zazetsky, as Luria said, 'fought to regain his lost faculties with the indomitable tenacity of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/but-the-saddest-difference-between-them-was-that-zazetsky-as-luria/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears - it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ears.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/music-can-lift-us-out-of-depression-or-move-us-to-tears-it-is-a/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“We have five senses in which we glory and which we recognise and celebrate, senses that constitute the sensible world for us. But there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/we-have-five-senses-in-which-we-glory-and-which-we-recognise-and/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“But it must be said from the outset that a disease is never a mere loss or excess— that there is always a reaction,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/but-it-must-be-said-from-the-outset-that-a-disease-is-never-a-mere/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [There is no one part of the brain which recognizes or responds emotionally to music. Instead, there are many different parts responding to different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/there-is-no-one-part-of-the-brain-which-recognizes-or-responds/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [I think there is no culture in which music is not very important and central. That's why I think of us as a sort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/i-think-there-is-no-culture-in-which-music-is-not-very-important-and/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Who cared if there was really any Being to pray to? What mattered was the sense of giving thanks and praise, the feeling of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/who-cared-if-there-was-really-any-being-to-pray-to-what-mattered-was/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“unconscious motives may sometimes ally themselves to physiological propensities, of how one cannot abstract an ailment or its treatment from the whole pattern, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/unconscious-motives-may-sometimes-ally-themselves-to-physiological/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“We have, each of us, a life-story, an inner narrative — whose continuity, whose sense, is our lives. It might be said that each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/we-have-each-of-us-a-life-story-an-inner-narrative-whose-continuity/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [I regard music therapy as a tool of great power in many neurological disorders -- Parkinson's and Alzheimer's -- because of its unique capacity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/i-regard-music-therapy-as-a-tool-of-great-power-in-many-neurological/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Psychotic hallucinations, whether they are visual or vocal, they address you. They accuse you. They seduce you. They humiliate you. They jeer at you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/psychotic-hallucinations-whether-they-are-visual-or-vocal-they/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Much more of the brain is devoted to movement than to language. Language is only a little thing sitting on top of this huge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/much-more-of-the-brain-is-devoted-to-movement-than-to-language/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [About 10 percent of the hearing impaired get musical hallucinations, and about 10 percent of the visually impaired get visual hallucinations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/about-10-percent-of-the-hearing-impaired-get-musical-hallucinations/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [The rhythm of music is very, very important for people with Parkinson's. But it's also very important with other sorts of patients, such as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/the-rhythm-of-music-is-very-very-important-for-people-with-parkinson/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) [Explore all 177 Oliver Sacks quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) ## 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": "I think there are dozens or hundreds of different forms of creativity. Pondering science and math problems for years is different from improvising jazz. Something which seems to me remarkable is how unconscious the creative process is. 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