“ You can be as good as Rembrandt, but if no one discovers you, you will only be a genius in theory. ”
Places of genius challenge us. They are difficult. They do not earn their place in history with ethnic restaurants or street festivals, but by provoking us, making demands of us. Crazy, unrealistic, beautiful demands.
~ Eric Weiner
All genuinely creative ideas are initially met with rejection, since they necessarily threaten the status quo. An enthusiastic reception for a new idea is a sure sign that it is not original.
It's a silly argument, and unnecessary. Creativity doesn't happen in here or out there but in the spaces in between. Creativity is a relationship, one that unfolds at the intersection of person and place.
Einstein's secretary once said that if Einstein were born among the polar bears, he would still be Einstein. But unless polar bears were well versed in theoretical physics, that is not true. Einstein would not be Einstein. Which is not to take anything away from Einstein, or the polar bears, but simply to point out that he was part of a creative ecology, and trying to isolate him from it is not only silly but futile.