“A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way. But intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience.”
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Source: Letter to H. L. Gordon, 3 May 1949; Archives 58-217
About this quote
Insight may arrive in a flash, but it is prepared by accumulated work, observation, and prior attempts. The formulation reconciles sudden creativity with the experience that quietly makes intuition reliable.
When to use it
- A programmer sees a clean solution after weeks spent learning the system's edge cases.
- A physician recognizes an unusual diagnosis because years of cases have built a rich pattern library.
- A musician improvises an original phrase using techniques absorbed through long practice.