Introducing Happen's first Hundred Innovation Quotes to spice up your reports when you can't find any cool maxims from Einstein, Edison or Grouch Marx.

Free to copy, distribute and retweet - as long as you refer to Happen^® or Happen.com as your source of inspiration.

"If at first you succeed, try, try again anyway."

"Quick & Dirty Solution - Funny how only the middle word carries any truth. Which is more than "Temporary Solution", where neither is true."

"Trendwatching... The poor man's trend setting."

"If your ideas aren't flying, find another audience. If there is no other audience, make sure you have provisions for a long & lonely trip."

"Growing pains - the fact you know it'll happen doesn't make it any less painful when you're in the middle of it. Like childbirth, probably."

"There is no chicken & egg question in breakthrough innovation, only egg. And more often than not, everyone ends up covered in it."

"The bottom line is that 'systematized creativity' is like 'creative accounting': it's a bit naughty and everyone secretly wants some."

"When weighing pro's and con's, be aware that the con's are in reality inversed pro's of alternatives you haven't yet considered."

"If your futurologist is surprised to see you, find a better one."

"If you implement creativity like a religion, you'll need miracles to be successful."

"Knowledge and innovation are fueled by curiosity, so their greatest inhibitor is not ignorance but apathy. Or worse, bigotry."

"Check if your Risk Management Advisor ties double knots in his/her shoelaces. If not, walk away."

"Urgent, important, critical. Three words meaning entirely different things, yet so often mixed up. Even by smart people."

"Prehistoric Man learned how to catch fish. Industrial Age Man learned how to catch and sell fish. Z-Gen Man learned to tweet #GreatSushiNow."

"Calculating ROI on a one sentence concept is like suggesting to get married on a first date: in some cultures it's perfectly acceptable."

"Paranoia, secrecy and speed to market are many times more effective than any patent can ever be. Because anyone can circumnavigate a patent."

"Differentiating innovation is about transcending category barriers and leaving them for the competition to stumble upon."

"The pixelated, low resolution world of Legoland proves that High Definition is not necessarily the only way forward."

"Real innovators leave a trail where there is no path."

"Whenever a futurologist or trend analyst defends past predictions with a sentence starting "if it weren't for...", slap 'em. "

"Continental drift is a highly predictable macro trend, but quite tough to use as inspiration for new concepts."

"Just like you avoid certain people because they kill new ideas - they're avoiding you because you always congest their newly streamlined processes."

"When overcoming a barrier on a path, finding the solution will also transform the path itself and lead to a new destination."

"Big ideas only have small audiences, initially."

"Innovation success enablers, dilemma: House Of Quality versus Shed Next Door."

"Big ideas sometimes need to be dressed up as small ones, just to survive company politics and decision making procedures."

"Just when you thought you were finished, your competition shows you you're not even close. And they're thinking the same."

"Revolutionary new products and services, just like any other revolutionaries, destroy as much as they create. Without exception, nor mercy."

"Empathy for your consumers doesn't mean that if you like a concept they automatically will too."

"As an example of leapfrogged human evolution, our bladder is exactly the same size as two medium cappuccino's. Or the other way around."

"A reason against an action is often an excellent reason for an alternative action. Rather than doing nothing or the opposite. Now read over."

"An opinion carried by crowds does not make it more correct. Unless they're carrying pitchforks and torches."

"Conflicts exist where you choose not to walk away. But walk away too easily and you'll find the conflict comes with you as a moral dilemma."

"When two opinions clash, it's usually not the opinions that matter but their owners. Compromises save face, solutions make partners."

"If your strategy is so inflexible/stupid it has no plan B, then at least make sure it isn't predictable. If it is, then implement very fast."

"I wonder if the airport staff that estimate new departure times on delayed flights are also always show up late at their own appointments?"

"To mentally check how revolutionary an idea is, simply imagine what would make it seem old-fashioned. And then pick that last one instead."

"On Friday nights, bars and aircraft are polar opposites when it comes to enjoying crowds. Ditto for parties and email inboxes."

"When your brand's heritage is so strong it has become synonym for a whole category... You're the one to leave a trail for others to follow."

"A 2% difference in scores between only two concepts means voters: A- are deeply polarized, B- can't see the difference, or C- don't care."

"Whether you're misunderstood because you're a genius or just talking nonsense... The end effect is the same: no one understands you."

"Controlling cost is not a strategy."

"Had I recieved 1 penny for every bad cup of coffee I've had in my life, I could almost buy one Starbucks Tall Cappuccino at Schiphol airport"

"If you'd like to read more about Apple's fabulous new iPad, get a life."

"Maybe poorly innovating companies simply have too many very important meetings to sit through."

"Great ideas usually come in pairs. First a fabulous one, then an even more fabulous one. If you don't lose your cool after the first one."

"As a seasoned business traveller, I always make sure to look & walk as if I know exactly where I'm going, particularly when I'm lost, again."

"After passport control, retrieve bags from luggage belt, then immediately remove airline labels in order not to look like a tourist."

"Core values of a successful innovative organisation: Devoted + Paranoid + Stingy"

"Why are walking areas around swimming pools - the slipperiest places on earth - always made of concrete, tiles and other really hard stuff?"

"If you can't choose between alternative paths, don't choose and follow both until you can choose. Just don't stop and don't compromise."

"When you bump into a massive barrier... you have in fact found what will eventually become the way forward."

"Slapping 'New Formula' or 'Improved Recipe' onto an existing product's label is the innovator's equivalent of writer's block."

"Innovation is not about dreaming up what would be fabulous today, but about imagining what would be bog-standard tomorrow."

"Perfection would be a great goal to pursue, if it weren't for normality improving so fast. Perfection is the new normal."

"Perfection is grossly overrated as an endpoint in development."

"Innovation: 1% inspiration, 99% transpiration and 200% of average deodorant consumption."

"When you (person/business) think you're finally getting good at something, you are in fact starting to flatline at the top of your S-curve."

"On left/right brain modes, when chatting on the phone... Should I hold my wife to my left ear and my accountant to my right?"

"A compromise is not a solution - on the contrary, it's not even close. Unless you manage to turn it into a feature and call it a 'hybrid'."

"This New Year's Screen resolution will remain at 1280x800."

"Great inventions often happen simultaneously in different categories, cultures & continents. New TV formats show it's true for bad ones too"

"Sunday evening is the new Monday morning."

"Hold on, something must have gone wrong somewhere... it's almost 2010 and I'm not driving a flying car. Nor is our hamster a replicant."

"It cannot be a coincidence that 'quantitative market research' anagrams to 'heart attack via requirements'."

"When futurologists say 'because'... be very cautious. When historians say 'because', be even more skeptical."

"Jetset and Jetlag lifestyles are often confused."

"'Milestones' must be a managerial invention. Reality is fluid. Is there anything other than phase transitions in nature that has tollgates?"

"'Instant coffee' is at best one of both and often neither."

"In an ideal world, mistakes have 'rewind' buttons to undo the damage. On the other hand, a crisis needs a 'fast forward'."

"I'm hearing invoices in my head, is that a sign of paranormal entrepreneurialism?"

"Evolution: the path from A to B. Revolution: the leap from A to C. Game Changer: the path from A to sliced bread."

"Heck - just when you think you have the perfect solution, you find a better one."

"The thing with out-of-the-box thinking is that it's not easy if you have a big box to start with. Maybe you need to shrink the box first?"

"Mediocre idea? Write it on the back of a napkin, photograph it and project it full-screen in PowerPoint. If it still fails, it IS mediocre."

"It's amazing how much stuff you sometimes need to remove from a three word idea headline, in order to get through to the ten word essence."

"You know you're flying too often when you stop checking for your passport every 5 minutes after you leave the house."

"The level of brilliance of an idea is not defined by the idea itself, but by the audience exposed to it. So choose your audience wisely."

"Candid Camera: try explaining to anyone under 30 why it was either funny or remarkable. They'll probably post your attempt on YouTube."

"When wondering what benefits to add to your proposition, don't forget to remove a few too."

"Food for the optimist innovator: 95% of innovation efforts succeed at failing."

"Funny how the extrapolated extension of 'truth' is 'insight', whereas the extrapolated appendix of 'lies' is 'statistics'."

"Imagine: if it weren't for Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone & their pals, we'd all be twittering by fax."

"There's no stopping an idea whose time has come. Though some do press the snooze button a couple of times to sleep off the hangover."

"The perfect packaging is one that's made itself obsolete. Yet the ambition to develop 'nothing' is pretty far out there."

"Wondering what the new symbol for 'idea' will be now that the incandescent light bulb is being phased out. LEDs don't really cut it do they?"

"Did you know that 'innovating for game changers' ... anagrams to ... 'magnificent hangover groans'. There's an omen to put you off."

"Anyone celebrating the tenacity of successful innovators is probably ignoring the larger number of tenacious idiots pursuing bad ideas."

"The middle word in both creativity and ideation is 'eat'. Now where's my cookie?"

"Maybe successful innovation really is no more than just doing what everyone else is thinking?"

"What does an ideal, perfectly optimized business process look like? From the comfort of your bed, charging money for stuff you're not doing?"

"Is there a system or procedure for inventing new systems and procedures?"

"T-Mobile's new ad wonders what you'd do with life-long free texts. Well, the same as my grandma with free telegrams or dad with free faxes."

"Game Changers: when 1+1=B."

"All the lateral, right brain thinking I've been doing has made my left brain feel constrained & stifled. Time for out-of-the-box reasoning."

"How come time slows down the closer you get to your destination? Unless your destination is a deadline."

"It took 100y to beat the steam powered land speed record. Next is squeezing 10Gb through a 14k4 modem."

"Maybe change programs by definition have only a start and no end point. In the end, it's a choice to no longer stand still."

"Are smartphones making me dumber? They must be."

"Paradox... eating ice cream with my clients is fun, but discussing innovation projects with my kids is no fun at all. "

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