In this post, we have tried to compile the best quotes on innovation and creativity for business growth. These innovation quotes are useful for both personal and professional excellence and to keep oneself motivated. A lot of our other posts discuss the intricacies of innovation and creativity in an organisational setup. What we have here is a simple post compiling famous lines of the best in the business. So, read on.
The hospitality and travel industry along with a lot of other industries have been shaken up by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. To bounce back in style, innovation and creativity are going to be a key driver of business growth. A lot of hospitality innovation are already becoming mainstream. Other industries especially the banking and financial sector would need a lot of creativity to overcome recession that is looming large.
We present here 12 interesting and motivational quotes by proven innovators. The quotes are from leaders, artists, thinkers, scientists etc. These quotes help to attain greater precision in decoding the complex routes to foster innovation and creativity.

Everyone wants to be innovative and creative. How good would it be if we had a road-map for mastering the art of being successful personally and professionally? On receiving a great response to our article on most inspirational hospitality quotes, we decided to follow it up with some more motivational quotes regarding innovation and creativity in the time of COVID-19.
We need to bounce back out of the crisis and that too soon. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. It is an abstract art made up of a lot of intangibles. Let’s start with a quote from Steve Jobs. He is one of the greatest innovators of all time.
1.“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”
steve jobs
Steve Jobs is a household name. We are all able to reflect on his personality and abilities by holding the iPhone in our hands. If only a phone makes us feel special, think what innovation and leadership can do to our personality and business acumen. Steve Jobs once said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”. How true he was with his legendary act of innovation. To paraphrase, it was an immaculate act of creativity and inventiveness. He did so through the Apple inventions and innovations.
2.“When you want something which you have never had, you have to do something you have never done”.
Innovation and creativity give us a vision which is not possessed by every human being. Innovation enables us to view things that lie in a separate dimension.
Creative imagination, mental imagery, subconscious mind etc. are said to be the routes to stay innovative. It helps prepare a mental route map to achieve the same.
3.“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
pablo picasso
Pablo Picasso was one of the greatest artists to have ever lived. He reasserted the importance of a childlike approach as a key to personal brilliance. He took an innovative and artistic approach to explain the same through his famous quote on creativity.

4. “Innovation is change that unlocks new value”
Jamie Notter
Jamie Notter is an entrepreneur, a consultant and a prolific speaker. He advocates a more contemporary approach to explaining innovation.
He believes that innovation inevitability is a change that might be fuelled by circumstances, luck or sustained efforts. It should also add value to us or others in some way. The intensity would vary and so would the impact.
5. “Business has only two function- marketing and innovation”
Milan Kundera
Now, this may raise a few eyebrows. But, as mentioned earlier, it is just a compilation and the only intention of this post is to present innovation and creativity quotes. So keep getting the dose of motivation and leave scepticism for later.
Milan Kundera through the above-mentioned quote on innovation further intensifies the tone of the discussion. He divides the marketplace into just two functions. One is Innovation and the other is marketing.
He believed all other functions within Organisations to be a part of these two giant subcategories.
This is the key rationale behind the success of companies like Microsoft.com, Apple, Zara, Amazon.com, TATA, Coke etc.
We can easily identify them through their global brand presence. Innovative ideas for business growth are key to the sustained success of these companies. Innovation and creativity make them appear distinct in the marketplace. These innovative ideas emanate from within the team at times or come from the founders at other times. At times, a lot of leading innovation consulting firms help top companies innovate at the right time and for the right market.
6. “100 percent of innovation is driven by the ability to fail quickly”
A lot of startups would believe this. The ability to understand and learn from failures differentiates between ordinary and special.
A lot of great leaders and businessmen/businesswomen have failed numerous times. But, they have resurrected themselves like the phoenix to come back more prepared and stronger than they were before the failure. Failures are the steps that lead to success.
If achieving success is an uphill task, failures make up that hill.
7. “There is no substitute for innovation. Original ideas will always rise to the top”
Richard Branson
Richard Branson has always been at the helm of innovation and creativity.
May it be his professional excellence through the Virgin group of companies or his personal competence. He is believed to be one of the best readers of consumer perception.
Branson also is a leader who is followed not only by people from his companies but also by competitors. He is regarded as one of the most innovative leaders globally. We have a dedicated post on Richard Branson Quotes. He is a hospitality enthusiast and innovator par excellence.
8. “The best way to predict the future is to create it”
Alain Kay
Computer scientist Alain Kay finds another way to stress the importance of innovation and creativity.
According to him the best way to predict the future is to create it. We all know it’s not that simple though. People and Organisations that have persevered through or are blessed with innovative capabilities tend to take the lift. The others toil through the staircase to reach the goal.
9. “Innovation and creativity comes from the producer, not from the customer.”
W. Edward Deming
One of the greatest influencers in terms of developing Operations strategy has been W. Edward Deming. He believes that innovation is the fuel that drives personal and Organisational engines.
He further advocated that we would definitely fail if we tried to find sources of creativity and innovation from the outside world. It is something that has to be searched from within and developed.
10. “Innovation is a state of mind”
Wiley
This one by ‘Wiley’ is our favourite as it sums up the crux of all the innovation and creativity quotes mentioned here.
It is extremely useful to believe that Innovation is not a process but a state of mind. Once the perception of innovation sinks in properly, the espoused values come back with a much greater force.
This helps in personal and professional success. Moreover, even the term success gets obsolete once we start making an effort to get into a creative state of mind. What follows is sustained business growth and success.
11. “Innovation and creativity is not the product of logical thought.”
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein, the great Physicist, also believed that innovation in no way is a process or science.
He believed it to be summed up by creative urges, chances and at times illogical concepts. However, the final product distances itself from all the issues and is tied to a logical structure.
He believed that an idea was worth pursuing even if it might look weird or the craziest of plans at the outset. The end result can be diametrically opposite and pleasing. We just need to follow our instincts.
12. “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by. That has made all the difference.”
Robert frost
One quote that has changed every literature enthusiast and business fraternity was said in the poem named “The Road Not Taken”.
There is a striking relatedness to this quote with innovation and creativity.
Robert Frost’s moment of transcendence brought these glorious words to all of us. There are decisions out there, and what defines you is the decision that you construct.
There is a road for all of us and there is a road for a few of us. Only one of these roads can make a difference.
To innovate and create we need to make sure we travel on the road that can make a big difference. The road which is less travelled.
Another one of Robert Frost’s quotes to cement the assertions made above is:
‘The only way around anything is through it’.
Robert Frost
Conclusion
In a marketplace, innovation is like a junction where market desirability and techno-economic viability meet technology.
Creativity is homogeneously mixed in various organisational and operational processes to establish an innovative edge. This creativity of an organisation is, however, a collective creative capital of the workforce. It is further dependent on personalities, training, behaviour, education, lifestyle etc.
Innovation requires speed and stamina. It also requires clarity of direction toward the goal we strive to achieve. It is equally important to discuss, share and learn from the immediate surroundings, organisations and social networks to invigorate a sense of creativity and innovation. So, here we conclude this journey of innovation quotes with a promise that we will be back with more.