“The reason for your complaint lies . . . in the constraint which your intellect imposes upon your imagination . . . Apparently, it is not good—and indeed it hinders the creative work of the mind—if the intellect examines too closely the ideas pouring in, as it were, at the gates.

“In the case of the creative mind . . .  the intellect has withdrawn its watchers from the gates, and the ideas rush in pell-mell . . . Hence your complaints of unfruitfulness, for you reject too soon and discriminate too severely.”

  – Friedrich Schiller (to a friend who complained that he had trouble coming up with new ideas)