No one is ahead of his time, it is only that the particular variety of creating his time is the one that his contemporaries who are also creating their own time refuse to accept... For a very long time everybody refuses and then almost without a pause almost everybody accepts. In the history of the refused in the arts and literature the rapidity of the change is always startling.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Stein argues that innovators are often rejected first, then accepted later once contemporaries catch up to their vision.
- In plain terms
- People refuse new ideas at first, then accept them quickly later.
- What can you take from it?
- Innovation often faces initial rejection before acceptance.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you react to new ideas?
- Is time the ultimate judge?
Another view
Some ideas are truly rejected forever.
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The creator of the new composition in the arts is an outlaw until he is a classic.
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