--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Imagination is a killer." description: "\"Imagination is a killer.\" — Tim O'Brien" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5a/tim-o-brien-1818_imagination_imagination-is-a-killer-2797427_2797427.png" --- # Imagination is a killer. ![“Imagination is a killer.” quote by Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5a/tim-o-brien-1818_imagination_imagination-is-a-killer-2797427_2797427.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5a/tim-o-brien-1818_imagination_imagination-is-a-killer-2797427_2797427.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5a/tim-o-brien-1818_imagination_imagination-is-a-killer-2797427_2797427.png) > “Imagination is a killer.” [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Imagination can be destructive, potentially undermining reality or leading to disillusionment. **In simple terms:** Imagination can be destructive. Key Takeaway Balance imagination with realism. Themes creativity danger reality Mood cautionary thoughtful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing - mental health - problem solving Key Concepts psychology literature Questions to Reflect On - When does imagination become harmful? - How to harness imagination constructively? A Different Perspective May stifle innovation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Imagination Killer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination-killer-3424681/) [Killer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/killer/) [Killers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/killers/) ## Related quotes > [I love making movies, and being in any that I can be in. I'd like to be in those giant movies, as the fifth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-burr/i-love-making-movies-and-being-in-any-that-i-can-be-in-i-d-like-to-be/) [Bill Burr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-burr/) > [I've spent the past two years looking for my ex-girlfriend’s killer… but no one will do it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-jeselnik/i-ve-spent-the-past-two-years-looking-for-my-ex-girlfriend-s-killer/) [Anthony Jeselnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-jeselnik/) > [I have to know the killer, the victim and the motive when I begin. Then I start to create the characters and see how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-george/i-have-to-know-the-killer-the-victim-and-the-motive-when-i-begin-then/) [Elizabeth George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-george/) > [“Some people would have killed themselves and/or someone else if they were single; and some people would not have done that.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/some-people-would-have-killed-themselves-and-or-someone-else-if-they/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [It will be a killer, and a chiller, and a thriller, when I get the gorilla in Manila.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muhammad-ali/it-will-be-a-killer-and-a-chiller-and-a-thriller-when-i-get-the/) [Muhammad Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muhammad-ali/) > [Every ounce of information we can extract from a killer about his mind and methods gives us more ammunition to track the next one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ressler/every-ounce-of-information-we-can-extract-from-a-killer-about-his/) [Robert Ressler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ressler/) > [I have never been a killer. I'm not an aggressive personality and if I can remember any emotion I felt during a race it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herb-elliott/i-have-never-been-a-killer-i-m-not-an-aggressive-personality-and-if-i/) [Herb Elliott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herb-elliott/) > [I still don’t believe it. It’s not in him. Yeah, and you are delusional. Babe, news flash, with the exception of you and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/i-still-don-t-believe-it-it-s-not-in-him-yeah-and-you-are-delusional/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [I wouldn't call and tell anybody on him, but I'd probably move. 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He'd never seen anything snap out so fast or strike so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-ward/the-trainee-knew-he-should-leave-but-he-was-unable-to-look-away-he-d/) [J.R. Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-ward/) > [Greg Jackson is a sport killer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-white/greg-jackson-is-a-sport-killer/) [Dana White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-white/) > [Fear is a killer, when it comes to the creative process.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-baldwin/fear-is-a-killer-when-it-comes-to-the-creative-process/) [Adam Baldwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-baldwin/) > [Around the late 1990s, I'd become convinced that one of the killer applications of robotics came from connecting robots to the Internet. The idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-angle/around-the-late-1990s-i-d-become-convinced-that-one-of-the-killer/) [Colin Angle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-angle/) ## More by Tim O'Brien > [“Yes, the issue was courage. It always had been, even as a kid. Things scared him. He couldn't help it. Noise scared him, dark…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/yes-the-issue-was-courage-it-always-had-been-even-as-a-kid-things/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [It's very hard to articulate the things that are important about writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/it-s-very-hard-to-articulate-the-things-that-are-important-about/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/the-thing-about-a-story-is-that-you-dream-it-as-you-tell-it-hoping/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [Fiction, maybe art in general, is a tentative, uncertain enterprise; it's not science, it's an exploration, but you never find much in the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/fiction-maybe-art-in-general-is-a-tentative-uncertain-enterprise-it-s/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [“I learned that words make a difference. It's easier to cope with a kicked bucked than a corpse; if it isn't human, it doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/i-learned-that-words-make-a-difference-it-s-easier-to-cope-with-a/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [“Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/stories-are-for-eternity-when-memory-is-erased-when-there-is-nothing/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [“The story' Sanders would say "the whole tone, man, you're wrecking it." Tone?' The sound. You need to get a consitent sound, like slow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/the-story-sanders-would-say-the-whole-tone-man-you-re-wrecking-it/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [“On occasions the war was like a Ping-Pong ball. You could put fancy spin on it, you could make it dance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/on-occasions-the-war-was-like-a-ping-pong-ball-you-could-put-fancy/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [“They were afraid of dying, but they were even more afraid to show it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/they-were-afraid-of-dying-but-they-were-even-more-afraid-to-show-it/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [“Forty-three years old, and the war occurred half a lifetime ago, and yet the remembering makes it now. And sometimes remembering will lead to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/forty-three-years-old-and-the-war-occurred-half-a-lifetime-ago-and/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [“He thought about the difference between good times and bad times, and how funny it was that he could not state the difference, only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/he-thought-about-the-difference-between-good-times-and-bad-times-and/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [A lie, sometimes, can be truer than the truth, which is why fiction gets written.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/a-lie-sometimes-can-be-truer-than-the-truth-which-is-why-fiction-gets/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [My life is storytelling. I believe in stories, in their incredible power to keep people alive, to keep the living alive, and the dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/my-life-is-storytelling-i-believe-in-stories-in-their-incredible/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [With a hangover and with fear, it is difficult to put a helmet on your head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/with-a-hangover-and-with-fear-it-is-difficult-to-put-a-helmet-on-your/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [“Peace never bragged. If you didn't look for it, it wasn't there.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/peace-never-bragged-if-you-didn-t-look-for-it-it-wasn-t-there/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) [Explore all 201 Tim O'Brien quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) ## 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": "Imagination is a killer.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tim O'Brien" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/imagination-is-a-killer/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Imagination" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/imagination-is-a-killer/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5a/tim-o-brien-1818_imagination_imagination-is-a-killer-2797427_2797427.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5a/tim-o-brien-1818_imagination_imagination-is-a-killer-2797427_2797427.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5a/tim-o-brien-1818_imagination_imagination-is-a-killer-2797427_2797427.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Imagination is a killer.” — Tim O'Brien", "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": "Tim O'Brien", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Imagination is a killer.", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/imagination-is-a-killer/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/imagination-is-a-killer/#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 } } ] } ```