This document contains several quotes related to institutions, knowledge, and originality. Clay Shirky warns that institutions will try to preserve problems to maintain their own relevance. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi notes that fields can become too insular and disconnected from reality. Robert Sutton and Jeffrey Pfeffer discuss the gap between talking about change and actually implementing it. They also advise wariness of people who focus only on problems without solutions. John Ciardi's quote discusses the meek who take risks. Sir Ken Robinson encourages being willing to be wrong to come up with new ideas.

1. Some favorite quotes
Laurence Kaptain • arts leader

2. "Institutions will try to
preserve the problem to
which they are the solution."
Clay Shirky
When a field becomes too
self referential and cut off
from reality it runs the risk of
becoming irrelevant.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Laurence Kaptain • arts leader

3. “One of the main barriers
to turning knowledge into
action is the tendency to
treat talking about
something as equivalent to
actually doing something
about it.”
The Knowing-Doing Gap, Robert Sutton and Jeffrey Pfeffer
Laurence Kaptain • arts leader

4. “Be very wary of judging people just on
the basis of how smart they sound, and
particularly on their ability to find
problems or fault with ideas. These are
dangerous people.
They are smart enough to stop things
from happening, but not action oriented
enough to find ways of overcoming the
problems they have identified.”
The Knowing-Doing Gap, Robert Sutton and Jeffrey Pfeffer
Laurence Kaptain • arts leader

5. “Beware the calculations of the meek,
who gambled nothing gave nothing,
and could never receive enough.”
John Ciardi
"If you're not prepared to be wrong,
you'll never come up with anything
original."
Sir Ken Robinson
Laurence Kaptain • arts leader