Painterly kite under construction on a wooden workbench surrounded by fabric scraps and string.

Original artwork, not a still

Alfred North Whitehead

Almost all really new ideas have a certain aspect of foolishness when they are first produced.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Unfamiliar ideas can look foolish before anyone understands what they might offer. The observation separates a first impression from an idea's eventual worth. It questions ridicule as a reliable judgment, while stopping short of saying that every odd idea will succeed.

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