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Imagination Quotes

A world of pure imagination.

ALL QUOTES POPULAR BROWSE BY AUTHOR BROWSE BY SOURCE BROWSE BY TOPIC BROWSE BY SUBJECT

Imagination Quotes

Kids aren't the only ones with active imaginations—without the creative thinking of techies, your smartphone would still be a dumbphone. Click on any imagination quote below to see it in context and find out where it falls on Shmoop's pretentious scale. We'll give you details on who said it, when they said it, and in some cases, why on earth they thought it was okay to say it.

"A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment."

Source: Pride and Prejudice | Author: Jane Austen

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever."

Source: Endymion | Author: John Keats

"A world of pure imagination"

Source: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory | Speaker: Willy Wonka

"Adventure is out there."

Source: Up | Speaker: Charles Muntz

"All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain."

Source: Blade Runner | Speaker: Roy Batty

"Allons-y!"

Source: Doctor Who | Speaker: Tenth Doctor

"Bam!"

Source: Emeril Live | Speaker: Emeril Lagasse

"Batter my heart"

Source: Batter my heart (Holy Sonnet 14) | Speaker: John Donne

"Be curious."

Source: Birthday Party Speech | Speaker: Stephen Hawking

"Beam me up, Scotty."

Source: Star Trek | Speaker: Captain Kirk

"Billions and billions."

Source: Carl Sagan | Speaker: Carl Sagan

"Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble."

Source: Macbeth | Author: William Shakespeare

"Carpe… Hear it? Carpe… carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."

Source: Dead Poets Society | Speaker: John Keating

"Come to me in the silence of the night."

Source: Echo | Author: Christina Rossetti

"Did you ever know that you're my hero?"

Source: Wind Beneath My Wings | Speaker: Bette Midler

"Don't just fly, soar."

Source: Dumbo | Speaker: Timothy Mouse

"Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom."

Source: 1896 Letter to Booker T. Washington | Author: George Washington Carver

"Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration."

Source: Not verified | Speaker: Thomas Edison

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!"

Source: Walden | Author: Henry David Thoreau

"Go west."

Source: Go West | Speaker: The Village People

"Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

Source: Batman | Speaker: The Joker

"He who marches out of step hears another drum."

Source: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | Author: Ken Kesey

"He's alive! Alive!"

Source: Frankenstein | Speaker: Dr. Henry Frankenstein

"His heart was two sizes too small."

Source: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! | Author: Dr. Seuss

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."

Source: How do I love Thee (Sonnet 43) | Author: Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful."

Source: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci | Author: Leonardo da Vinci

"I am the walrus. Goo goo g'joob."

Source: I Am the Walrus | Speaker: The Beatles

"I call people rich when they're able to meet the requirements of their imagination."

Source: The Portrait of a Lady | Author: Henry James

"I heard a Fly buzz — when I died"

Source: I heard a Fly buzz — when I died | Author: Emily Dickinson

"I invented the internet."

Source: Al Gore | Speaker: Al Gore

"I said you wanna be startin' somethin', you gotta be startin' something."

Source: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" | Speaker: Michael Jackson

"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness"

Source: Howl | Author: Allen Ginsberg

"I see a red door and I want it painted black."

Source: Paint It Black | Speaker: The Rolling Stones

"I think I'll try defying gravity, and you can't pull me down."

Source: Wicked (2003 Musical) | Speaker: Elphaba

"I'll be there someday, I can go the distance."

Source: Go the Distance | Speaker: Hercules

"I'm a genie in a bottle, baby."

Source: "Genie in a Bottle" | Speaker: Christina Aguilera

"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

Source: Letter to Robert Hooke | Author: Sir Isaac Newton

"Imagine all the people, livin' life in peace."

Source: "Imagine" | Speaker: John Lennon

"In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different."

Source: Quoted in Coco Chanel: Her Life, Her Secrets (1971) | Speaker: Coco Chanel

"It's better to look at the sky than live there."

Source: Breakfast at Tiffany's | Author: Truman Capote

"Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make."

Source: Dracula | Speaker: Dracula

"Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!"

Source: Adventures of Superman | Speaker: Men and Women

"Look, George. Look what I done."

Source: Of Mice and Men | Author: John Steinbeck

"Make it work."

Source: Project Runway | Speaker: Tim Gunn

"Maybe I'm amazed at the way you love me all the time."

Source: "Maybe I'm Amazed" | Speaker: Paul McCartney

"My name is Legion."

Source: Mark 5:8-9 | Author: Mark

"Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day."

Source: Napoleon Dynamite | Speaker: Kip Dynamite

"No arts; no letters; no society."

Source: Leviathan | Author: Thomas Hobbes

"Oh, the places you'll go!"

Source: Oh, the Places You'll Go! | Author: Dr. Seuss

"Oh, the things you can find if you don't stay behind!"

Source: On Beyond Zebra! | Author: Dr. Seuss

"One could do worse than be a swinger of birches"

Source: Birches | Author: Robert Frost

"One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know."

Source: Animal Crackers | Speaker: Captain Spaulding

"Oo-ee-oo, I look just like Buddy Holly."

Source: "Buddy Holly" | Speaker: Weezer

"Physician, heal thyself."

Source: Luke 4:23 | Author: Luke

"Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore.'"

Source: The Raven | Author: Edgar Allan Poe

"Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!"

Source: Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo | Speaker: Fairy Godmother

"Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning."

Source: Peter Pan | Speaker: Peter Pan

"Shall we play a game?"

Source: WarGames | Speaker: WOPR/Joshua

"so much depends upon a red wheel barrow"

Source: The Red Wheelbarrow | Author: William Carlos Williams

"So you wanna play with magic?"

Source: "Dark Horse" | Speaker: Katy Perry

"So, goodbye, yellow brick road."

Source: "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" | Speaker: Elton John

"Take up your cross and follow me"

Source: Matthew 10:38 | Author: Matthew

"The best laid schemes of mice and men Go oft awry."

Source: To a Mouse | Author: Robert Burns

"The Brain—is wider than the Sky—"

Source: The Brain—is wider than the Sky— | Author: Emily Dickinson

"The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience."

Source: Dune | Author: Frank Herbert

"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."

Source: Unknown | Speaker: Albert Einstein

"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls."

Source: The Sound of Silence | Speaker: Simon and Garfunkel

"There is no Frigate like a Book"

Source: There is no Frigate like a Book | Author: Emily Dickinson

"They're like humans, but miniature. Teacup humans."

Source: True Blood | Speaker: Eric Northman

"Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it."

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle | Author: Henry Ford

"This is not one of your more convincing fake showers."

Source: Girls | Speaker: Marnie Michaels

"We are the hollow men"

Source: The Hollow Men | Author: T.S. Eliot

"We can have lots of good fun that is funny!"

Source: The Cat in the Hat | Author: Dr. Seuss

"We don't need another hero"

Source: "We Don't Need Another Hero" | Speaker: Tina Turner

"We dream in our waking moments, and walk in our sleep."

Source: The Scarlet Letter | Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

"We're all mad here."

Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | Author: Lewis Carroll

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year."

Source: "Wish You Were Here" | Speaker: Pink Floyd

"What happens to a dream deferred?"

Source: Harlem (Dream Deferred) | Author: Langston Hughes

"What we do in life echoes in eternity."

Source: Gladiator | Speaker: Maximus Decimus Meridius

"Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods?"

Source: "Holding Out for a Hero" | Speaker: Bonnie Tyler

"Who can it be now?"

Source: "Who Can It Be Now?" | Speaker: Men at Work

"Wrapped up like a douche..."

Source: Blinded by the Light | Speaker: Manfred Mann

"You ain't never had a friend like me!"

Source: Friend Like Me | Speaker: Genie

"You can call me green bean."

Source: "Royals" | Speaker: Lorde

"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need."

Source: You Can't Always Get What You Want | Speaker: The Rolling Stones

"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus."

Source: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court | Author: Mark Twain

"You may say I'm a dreamer."

Source: "Imagine" | Speaker: John Lennon

"You want the moon? Just say the word, and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down."

Source: It's a Wonderful Life | Speaker: George Bailey

"You'll be a Man, my son!"

Source: If | Author: Rudyard Kipling

"You're gonna be popular!"

Source: Wicked | Speaker: Glinda

"You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so...get on your way!"

Source: Oh, the Places You'll Go! | Author: Dr. Seuss