Observation as Innovation Source

"“Powers of observation are indispensable in order to pro- duce anything. Perhaps I can better explain what I mean by referring to the arts. Leonardo da Vinci had wonderful"

"powers of observation; he could reproduce with exactitude something which today we would take a magnifying glass to; he could catch movement as the camera does now, and at the same time he gave the illusion of life to his sketches, some- thing that photography is unable to do. “It is by observation that one can penetrate into the nature of things. If a man like Leonardo became a military engineer, he would be an expert at it; his advice on any subject would be invaluable, and his ideas on the matter would be highly original."

"“Faster progress would be made in all fields if conceit did not cause us to forget or disdain the work done by others before us. There is a tendency to believe that nothing worthy of note has been done in the past, and this has an unfortunate bearing on our judgment; thus the present trend toward mediocrity, not because it would cost more to do better but because we do not know how to do better."