Imagination quotes

Today's quote belongs to the most gifted artist (sculptor, painter, architect and poet) of the Renaissance, Michelangelo:

“A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.”

I think it summarizes what a Dungeon Master does as he prepares an adventure, or when, already around the gaming table, describes the scene as a group of weary adventurers arrives at a merry tavern, or sets the atmosphere as the party takes the first steps exploring some ominous ruins. Dungeonmastering it's like painting on an empty canvas.

Imagination quotes

This quote by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would probably be more suitable for Halloween but, since that's not a traditional festivity down here, I decided to share it with you today, the Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere:

“Where there is no imagination there is no horror”

I found it suitable for the day with the longest night, like a homage to all the creepy, evil creatures you imagined and created, that inhabit your dungeons and caves, lurking in the dark, waiting for unaware adventurers.

Imagination quotes

Continuing the search of quotes about imagination, I found this one by Napoleon Bonaparte:

"Imagination rules the world."

And that's true for every world Dungeon Masters creates and players discover, explore and expand with their character's adventures. Keep building new worlds!

Imagination quotes

Almost a year ago, when I decided to start blogging in a more or less regular way, I changed the look of the blog an added a quote about imagination. On either side of the DM screen, I think imagination is the most important thing in role playing games. Imagination to create adventures, give life to characters and monsters, to picture what is going on when the DM describe a place or the players describe their actions, and so on. At that time I chose a quote by Carl Sagan:

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere."

How many worlds are out there, canon and homebrew, teeming with characters adventuring, monsters to be vanquished, places to be discovered, treasures to be plundered, dungeons to be explored and more? Thousands, perhaps millions and every one of them, wonderful.

I then thought of changing the quote, not because I didn't like it anymore, but to see what has been said about imagination. So I searched the web and came across this quote by Albert Einstein:

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

Yes, logic will take you from A to B, with only one random encounter in between according to Vaarsuvius, if I may respectfully add. And everywhere are all those worlds we created and those yet to be. Then my search led me to a quote by Pablo Picasso:

"Everything you can imagine is real."

This is so very true in our hobby. Everything that that happens when we gather to play, around the table, by post, by Wave or even Twitter, becomes real to DM and players alike. As a side thought, it would have been great to have a monsters manual illustrated by Picasso, wouldn't it?

Then, why don't make this a regular thing? A weekly post with a quote about imagination, the heart and soul of role playing games. Let's see what I find for next Monday.