Ed Catmull Quotes

If everyone is trying to prevent error, it screws things up.

We never really know what might be beside us or ahead, but most days we walk as if we do.

Sometimes sense hides behind walls. You must find a window and stick your head right in before you can see it.

If you give a good idea to a mediocre group, they'll screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a good group, they'll fix it. Or they'll throw it away and come up with something else.

You are not your idea, and if you identify too closely with your ideas, you will take offense when they are challenged.

Success hides problems...you don't need to address problems.

Art isn't about drawing; it's about learning to see. What organization doesn't need this ability?

Creativity doesn't follow titles. It just comes from where it comes from.

If you aren't experiencing failure, then you are making a far worse mistake: You are being driven by the desire to avoid it.

The pinpoint flame of anger and grief becomes a hot needle, then a hot knife.It melts the frost that binds her lips.It melts the sea in her eyesss.(from uncorrected galley)

I actually feel awkward being at the center of attention.

You can give a great film idea to a mediocre team and they may screw it up, but if you give a mediocre idea to a great team, they will turn it into a great film.

I love solving the problems of having groups work together and removing barriers. But to actually turn around and be in the center of that is an awkward place to be.

Every creative person can draft into service those around them who exhibit the right mixture of intelligence, insight, and grace.

For me, creativity includes problem-solving. That's the broad definition of it.

The future is a direction, not a destination.

Trust doesn't mean that you trust that someone won't screw up— it means you trust them even when they do screw up.

This principle eludes most people, but it is critical: You are not your idea, and if you identify too closely with your ideas, you will take offense when they are challenged.

When it come to creative inspiration, job titles and hierarchy are meaningless.

She was only half Bird now, and the other half song. She liked it that way.

The bird music sank into her, like a song you used to know but forgot long ago. You hear a piano play it some day, and for a minute you feel a happy pain, but you don't know why. Bird felt like that.

We never really know what might me beside us or ahead, but most days we walk as if we do

Seeing is 'making, ' whether you see with your mind or your true self. Try to see with your self, your self and your beast together, and not your busy, frightened mind.

The roller coaster came to a stop and a good friend got off, but what a ride we'd taken together. It had been one hell of a trip.

And I love everything on this changing, burning earth, but I am most grateful to you.

The goal, then, is to uncouple fear and failure—to create an environment in which making mistakes doesn’t strike terror into your employees’ hearts.

Negative feedback may be fun, but it is far less brave than endorsing something unproven and providing room to grow.

On one of the right-side-up pages show wrote, with some difficulty, Know what roots know: there is only one tree.

You don't drown because you can't breathe. You drown because you try to breathe what is not breathable.