Plenty of geniuses, champions and masters of their fields have voiced their opinion on this idea, that imagination is more important than knowledge. I've known this idea on some level for many years, but have only come to realise it in my own way that I really believe, that I can put into words quite recently.

We are put into schools, whether they are schools for maths, language, martial art, dance, or any other skill, to learn those skills. Unfortunately, most students do not know how to be geniuses. They religiously follow teachings to arrive at measurable answers. The right numbers, the right words, the right moves, executed in order, in the right quantity, measured as right in as many ways as possible.

This is foolish. And not because the answers are wrong.

Take martial art. Many traditional schools of martial art show you "forms". Some masters tell you great secrets of martial art with which to destroy your enemies, strengthen your body against blades, find inner peace, among other incredible things. Not much of what they tell you is untrue.

But let's pretend for a moment that your martial arts master really is the greatest master in the world, even the universe! Let's pretend he can crush and create mountains...no, planets! With his will he can shape the future for entire civilisations as he pleases, his power his so great. Of course you would want to follow him and be able to do as he does. And suppose he does teach you everything he knows. And you copy it all, and you copy it perfectly. But it won't work for you. Because in your haste, you failed to notice that your master is actually a 100ft super alien. With tentacles.

You are not Einstein, Bruce Lee, Frank Sinatra, Churchill, Tiger Woods or any other legend who has gone before. You are you, and you have to find your own way. If you learn best from doing and gain little from cramming, a speed read course is not much good to you even if you speed read perfectly. If you're allergic to nuts, an amazing super diet that includes nuts is no good for you no matter how healthy it is.

And what does this have to do with what Einstein said?

What matters more than both the answer and the method, is the idea. Bruce Lee explained it well:


Not only is arriving at the right answer not useful, but using the right method is also of no use without the intended idea. An idea, being a manifestation of some person's creativity, intuition, belief, imagination. The imaginative idea being more important than the knowledgeable answer which may carry it.

So what use is there for knowledge? This question is far too large for the scope of this post, but for now, I believe the biggest use of knowledge is to create new ideas, from which we create knowledge, and so forth. For instance, the knowledge of the existence of chocolate and peanut butter could lead to the idea of dessert no-one has tasted before. The knowledge that apples fall from trees could lead to the idea of gravitation. The knowledge that you've seen something huge in the water could lead to the idea of a sea beast to be popularised in fiction for centuries to come.


Acquire knowledge not just for the sake of its ideas, but also for your imagination - those ideas you are yet to have.