"What is it that confers the noblest delight? What is that which swells a
man's breast with pride above that which any other experience can bring
to him? Discovery! To know that you are walking where none others have
walked; that you are beholding what human eye has not seen before; that
you are breathing a virgin atmosphere. To give birth to an idea — to
discover a great thought — an intellectual nugget, right under the dust of
a field that many a brain — plow had gone over before. To find a new
planet, to invent a new hinge, to find the way to make the lightnings
carry your messages. To be the first — that is the idea. To do
something, say something, see something, before any body else — these are
the things that confer a pleasure compared with which other pleasures are
tame and commonplace, other ecstasies cheap and trivial."
metacool Thought of the Day
– Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad
Cool quote. I really dig Mark Twain.
mmm hmm. What a great quote. There’s also an innovation challenge in there…how many people stop pursuing great ideas because they find out the idea was unoriginal, even when the supposed originator is underfunded or underexecuting?
Good point, Dave B.