What is creativity? According to Merriam-Webster, the first definition of creativity is the state or quality of being creative. Then the second definition goes further: the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.

Here are some quotes to help you realize not only how important creativity is in everyday life, but how important it is to encourage it in childhood.

Everybody born comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory. We come from the Creator with creativity. I think that each one of us is born with creativity.

Maya Angelou

Art in the classroom not only spurs creativity, it also inspires learning.

Mickey Hart

There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.

Brene Brown

Standardized testing is at cross purposes with many of the most important purposes of public education. It doesn’t measure big-picture learning, critical thinking, perseverance, problem solving, creativity or curiosity, yet those are the qualities great teaching brings out in a student.

Randi Weingarten

I think creativity is a capability of human being. When we’re born, we’re – all of us has this capability. But part of us forget to use it.

Erno Rubik

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.

Steve Jobs