--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It would be very interesting to speculate…" description: "\"“It would be very interesting to speculate on what the human imagination is going to do with a frontierless world where it must seek its inspiration in..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/946/walter-prescott-webb-74042_human-imagination_it-would-be-very-interesting-to-speculat_429650.jpg" --- # It would be very interesting to speculate on what the… ![“It would be very interesting to speculate on what the human imagination is going to do with a frontierless world where it must seek its inspiration in uniformity rather than variety, in sameness rather than contrast, in safety rather than peril, in probing the harmless nuances of the known rather…” quote by Walter Prescott Webb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/946/walter-prescott-webb-74042_human-imagination_it-would-be-very-interesting-to-speculat_429650.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/946/walter-prescott-webb-74042_human-imagination_it-would-be-very-interesting-to-speculat_429650.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/946/walter-prescott-webb-74042_human-imagination_it-would-be-very-interesting-to-speculat_429650.jpg) > ““It would be very interesting to speculate on what the human imagination is going to do with a frontierless world where it must seek its inspiration in uniformity rather than variety, in sameness rather than contrast, in safety rather than peril, in probing the harmless nuances of the known rather than the thundering uncertainties of unknown seas or continents. The dreamers, the poets, and the philosophers are after all but instruments which make vocal and articulate the hopes and aspirations and the fears of a people. The people are going to miss the frontier more than words can express. For four centuries they heard its call, listened to its promises, and bet their lives and fortunes on its outcome. It calls no more...”” Walter Prescott Webb ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A world without frontiers forces imagination into uniformity, stifling daring and wonder. **In simple terms:** Loss of frontiers limits imagination. Key Takeaway Seek new challenges to inspire creativity. Themes philosophy exploration creativity Mood thoughtful inquisitive Type speculative inspirational When to use this quote - innovation policy - education curricula - personal growth Key Concepts human imagination risk vs safety Questions to Reflect On - How does frontier loss affect society? - What new frontiers can we create? A Different Perspective Some argue stability can also foster innovation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Human imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-imagination/) [Inspiration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspiration/) ## Related quotes > [I don't know what it means to manage the human imagination, but I do know that imagination is the main source of value in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-peters/i-don-t-know-what-it-means-to-manage-the-human-imagination-but-i-do/) [Tom Peters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-peters/) > [The world of literature is a world where there is no reality except that of the human imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/the-world-of-literature-is-a-world-where-there-is-no-reality-except/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [Reality has always been too small for the human imagination. We're always trying to transcend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brenda-laurel/reality-has-always-been-too-small-for-the-human-imagination-we-re/) [Brenda Laurel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brenda-laurel/) > [Everything will come true in cyberspace. That's the whole idea. What cyberspace is, on one level, it's simply the human imagination vivified, hardwired.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/everything-will-come-true-in-cyberspace-that-s-the-whole-idea-what/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [“As the events of 2011 reveal, the age of revolutions is by no means over. The human imagination stubbornly refuses to die. And the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/as-the-events-of-2011-reveal-the-age-of-revolutions-is-by-no-means/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [“To me, the best, if not the only function of imaginative writing, is to lead the human imagination outward, to take it into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clark-ashton-smith/to-me-the-best-if-not-the-only-function-of-imaginative-writing-is-to/) [Clark Ashton Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clark-ashton-smith/) > [“Uncontrolled human imagination turning into reality may bring about the end of mankind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-magee/uncontrolled-human-imagination-turning-into-reality-may-bring-about/) [Steven Magee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-magee/) > [Imagination is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-k-rowling-2/imagination-is-the-power-that-enables-us-to-empathize-with-humans/) [J. K. Rowling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-k-rowling-2/) > [Literature as a whole is not an aggregate of exhibits with red and blue ribbons attached to them, like a cat-show, but the range…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/literature-as-a-whole-is-not-an-aggregate-of-exhibits-with-red-and/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [The wolf exerts a powerful influence on the human imagination. It takes your stare and turns it back on you](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-l-pez/the-wolf-exerts-a-powerful-influence-on-the-human-imagination-it/) [Barry Lopez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-l-pez/) > [Technology, like art, is a soaring exercise of the human imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-bell/technology-like-art-is-a-soaring-exercise-of-the-human-imagination/) [Daniel Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-bell/) > [It's about human imagination and curiosity. What's out there? What's in the great beyond? What exists at levels we can't see with our five…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-cameron/it-s-about-human-imagination-and-curiosity-what-s-out-there-what-s-in/) [James Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-cameron/) > [“The clothes you're wearing, the room, the house, the city that you're in. Everything in it started out in the human imagination. Your lives,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/the-clothes-you-re-wearing-the-room-the-house-the-city-that-you-re-in/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Mars tugs at the human imagination like no other planet. With a force mightier than gravity, it attracts the eye to its shimmering red…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-noble-wilford/mars-tugs-at-the-human-imagination-like-no-other-planet-with-a-force/) John Noble Wilford > [The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/the-simple-truth-is-that-interstellar-distances-will-not-fit-into-the/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) ## More by Walter Prescott Webb > [Historically the buffalo had more influence on man than all other Plains animals combined. It was life, food, raiment, and shelter to the Indians.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-prescott-webb/historically-the-buffalo-had-more-influence-on-man-than-all-other/) Walter Prescott Webb > [In their efforts to provide a sufficiency of water where there was not one, men have resorted to every expedient from prayer to dynamite.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-prescott-webb/in-their-efforts-to-provide-a-sufficiency-of-water-where-there-was/) Walter Prescott Webb > [“The real scholar must choose truth and somehow it is better if it is made so ugly that nobody could doubt its virginity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-prescott-webb/the-real-scholar-must-choose-truth-and-somehow-it-is-better-if-it-is/) Walter Prescott Webb Explore all 4 Walter Prescott Webb quotes ## More Human imagination quotes > [I don't know what it means to manage the human imagination, but I do know that imagination is the main source of value in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-peters/i-don-t-know-what-it-means-to-manage-the-human-imagination-but-i-do/) [Tom Peters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-peters/) > [Mars tugs at the human imagination like no other planet. With a force mightier than gravity, it attracts the eye to its shimmering red…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-noble-wilford/mars-tugs-at-the-human-imagination-like-no-other-planet-with-a-force/) John Noble Wilford > [“The clothes you're wearing, the room, the house, the city that you're in. Everything in it started out in the human imagination. Your lives,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/the-clothes-you-re-wearing-the-room-the-house-the-city-that-you-re-in/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [It's about human imagination and curiosity. What's out there? What's in the great beyond? What exists at levels we can't see with our five…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-cameron/it-s-about-human-imagination-and-curiosity-what-s-out-there-what-s-in/) [James Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-cameron/) > [Technology, like art, is a soaring exercise of the human imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-bell/technology-like-art-is-a-soaring-exercise-of-the-human-imagination/) [Daniel Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-bell/) > [The wolf exerts a powerful influence on the human imagination. It takes your stare and turns it back on you](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-l-pez/the-wolf-exerts-a-powerful-influence-on-the-human-imagination-it/) [Barry Lopez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-l-pez/) > [Literature as a whole is not an aggregate of exhibits with red and blue ribbons attached to them, like a cat-show, but the range…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/literature-as-a-whole-is-not-an-aggregate-of-exhibits-with-red-and/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [Imagination is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-k-rowling-2/imagination-is-the-power-that-enables-us-to-empathize-with-humans/) [J. K. Rowling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-k-rowling-2/) > [“Uncontrolled human imagination turning into reality may bring about the end of mankind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-magee/uncontrolled-human-imagination-turning-into-reality-may-bring-about/) [Steven Magee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-magee/) > [“To me, the best, if not the only function of imaginative writing, is to lead the human imagination outward, to take it into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clark-ashton-smith/to-me-the-best-if-not-the-only-function-of-imaginative-writing-is-to/) [Clark Ashton Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clark-ashton-smith/) > [“As the events of 2011 reveal, the age of revolutions is by no means over. The human imagination stubbornly refuses to die. And the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/as-the-events-of-2011-reveal-the-age-of-revolutions-is-by-no-means/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [Everything will come true in cyberspace. That's the whole idea. What cyberspace is, on one level, it's simply the human imagination vivified, hardwired.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/everything-will-come-true-in-cyberspace-that-s-the-whole-idea-what/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [Reality has always been too small for the human imagination. We're always trying to transcend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brenda-laurel/reality-has-always-been-too-small-for-the-human-imagination-we-re/) [Brenda Laurel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brenda-laurel/) > [The world of literature is a world where there is no reality except that of the human imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/the-world-of-literature-is-a-world-where-there-is-no-reality-except/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/the-simple-truth-is-that-interstellar-distances-will-not-fit-into-the/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) [Browse all 94 Human imagination quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-imagination/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It would be very interesting to speculate on what the human imagination is going to do with a frontierless world where it must seek its inspiration in uniformity rather than variety, in sameness rather than contrast, in safety rather than peril, in probing the harmless nuances of the known rather than the thundering uncertainties of unknown seas or continents. The dreamers, the poets, and the philosophers are after all but instruments which make vocal and articulate the hopes and aspirations and the fears of a people. The people are going to miss the frontier more than words can express. For four centuries they heard its call, listened to its promises, and bet their lives and fortunes on its outcome. It calls no more...”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Walter Prescott Webb" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-prescott-webb/it-would-be-very-interesting-to-speculate-on-what-the-human/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Human imagination" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-prescott-webb/it-would-be-very-interesting-to-speculate-on-what-the-human/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/946/walter-prescott-webb-74042_human-imagination_it-would-be-very-interesting-to-speculat_429650.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/946/walter-prescott-webb-74042_human-imagination_it-would-be-very-interesting-to-speculat_429650.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/946/walter-prescott-webb-74042_human-imagination_it-would-be-very-interesting-to-speculat_429650.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It would be very interesting to speculate on what the human imagination is going to do with a frontierless…” — Walter Prescott Webb", "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": "Walter Prescott Webb", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-prescott-webb/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“It would be very interesting to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-prescott-webb/it-would-be-very-interesting-to-speculate-on-what-the-human/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-prescott-webb/it-would-be-very-interesting-to-speculate-on-what-the-human/#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 } } ] } ```