Nothing is more fearful than imagination without taste.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

CREATIVITY

WHAT THIS MEANS

Invention with no judgment attached is not a small problem; it is the dangerous combination. The capacity to picture what does not exist is neutral, and what decides whether it produces something worth having is the sense of proportion, restraint and fitness that governs it. Plenty of harm has been done by people with vivid pictures in their heads and no instinct for which ones deserved building.

Which suggests where to put your effort if you already have no shortage of ideas. Developing taste is slower and less exciting than generating: it comes from long exposure to good work and honest attention to your own bad work. Volume is easy. Knowing which one to keep is the skill.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Where did one of your ideas need restraint rather than energy?

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