Creativity and problem-solving

What it means

Most good ideas have been had before; the task is to think them through again for ourselves. Originality often means rediscovering, not inventing from nothing.

About the author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe — German writer and polymath (1749–1832).

Source and verification

Source

Maxims and Reflections (1833), Maxim 441, trans. Stopp

Reference

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on Wikiquote

Checked

Wording and source taken from the sourced section of the author’s Wikiquote page, which cites the work given here (accessed 2026-10-11).

Copyright

Public domain: the author died in 1832. This English translation (Stopp) may still be in copyright; it is quoted briefly with attribution.

The explanation above is ToDoMatriX’s own reading of the quote, not the author’s words.