Quotes About Ingenuity

It is one of the felicities of English that we can take pieces of words from all over and fuse them into new constructions—like trusteeship, which consists of a Nordic stem (trust), combined with a French affix (ee), married to an Old English root (ship). Other languages cannot do this. We should be proud of ourselves for our ingenuity and yet even now authorities commonly attack almost any new construction as ugly or barbaric.

canvas tarpaulin, and a piece of old carpet. I'm not sure that they didn't lay an old wardrobe on top of that, just to

I'm out of rabbits and hats to pull them out of.

If it weren't for acid, you might not have an IPod, and you definitely would not have some of the best music in your IPod.

But for my own example, I'd never believe one little kid could have so much brains!

Mothers are the necessity of invention.

Imagination is not always appreciated.

I'm playing checkers while they're playing chess They make the big moves that make me a little less Even when I win and beat the pants off of the best I'm still playing checkers while they're playing chess

I learned about the yucca plant, and how the Indians made rope and sandals and mats and baskets, even soap from it, and how they boiled its buds and flowers and fruits to eat. I learned about manzanita and piñon nuts and mesquite beans, and how to crush dried acorns in a mortar, then bake them in unleavened cakes. I had even tasted the stuff and wished I hadn't.

We allow no geniuses around our Studio.

The idea comes to me from outside of me - and is like a gift. I then take the idea and make it my own - that is where the skill lies.

At the Seattle Aquarium, Sammy the giant Pacific octopus enjoyed playing with a baseball-size plastic ball that could be screwed together by twisting the two halves. A staffer put food inside the ball but later was surprised to find that not only had the octopus opened the ball, it had screwed it back together when it was done.

The detective story, as created by Poe, is something as specialised and as intellectual as a chess problem, whereas the best English detective fiction has relied less on the beauty of the mathematical problem and much more on the intangible human element. [...] In The Moonstone the mystery is finally solved, not altogether by human ingenuity, but largely by accident. Since Collins, the best heroes of English detective fiction have been, like Sergeant Cuff, fallible.

Prideep pointed to the flames of paraffin lamps as they came alive in the distance and cackled in awe at the experience. (…) I was to discover that making tasty soup with one carrot, ten peas and a little dishwater, was his greatest skill. One wondered what the man would be capable of creating with a blender and a non-stick frying-pan.

He has artistry, he repeated. Because that's what it takes to blow things up. And cook his arm.

Da says I make a whole loaf from pigeon crumbs.

So most clothes are made from mouse skins, and that's not as good. Everyone knows that you can cut something from a big piece, but you can't keep your teeth warm with a mouse skin.

Only a woman could make so much out of so little. Give them a single fact and they'd fashion it into a story before taking a single breath.

What's talent but the ability to get away with something?

Theology in general seems to me a substitution of human ingenuity for divine wisdom.

When I see the elaborate study and ingenuity displayed by women in the pursuit of trifles, I feel no doubt of their capacity for the most herculean undertakings.

You're somethin' else, Hel. Know that? Dodged the sea toad, got rescued off that damned comet, bisected ol' Bron Elgar like a bagel out there on Cravat ... How the hell you get away from those damn fish down in the Glory Hole? Man, you got more lives than a New York alleycat.

we find only one tool, neither created nor invented, but perfect: the hand of man.

like a cartwheel over a hedgehog,