--- description: "Creativity is just connecting things." title: What Steve Jobs Said About Creativity image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5dc0c0b8a9205acb/69885d140a4a2225dd9c561f/steve-jobs1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Innovation](/tag/innovation/) ## Innovation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # What Steve Jobs Said About Creativity ## Video: Steve Jobs Lost Interview Exclusive Clip [Watch (HLS stream): Steve Jobs Lost Interview Exclusive Clip](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/j20YmQrI.m3u8) (0:30)  _Published 2011-11-15_ by [Shane Parrish](/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 7, 2015 11:00 AM CUT  Steve Jobs at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on June 6, 2011. Steve Jobs at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on June 6, 2011.Paul Sakuma—AP by [Shane Parrish](/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 7, 2015 11:00 AM CUT In a [beautiful article](http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/06/secrets-of-the-creative-brain/372299/?utm%5Fsource=farnamstreet.org&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=brainfood "undefined") for The Atlantic, Nancy Andreasen, a neuroscientist who has spent decades studying creativity, writes: --- > “” --- The same point of view is offered by [James Webb Young](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/09/a-technique-for-producing-ideas/ "undefined"), who many years earlier, wrote: --- > “” --- A lot of creative luminaries think about creativity in the same way. Steve Jobs had a lot to say about creativity. In [I, Steve: Steve Jobs in His Own Words](http://a-fwd.com/es=farstrblo068-21&it=farstrblo0a-21&fr=farstrblo08-21&de=farstrblo07-21&uk=farstrblo-21&ca=farst-20&com=farnamstreet-20&asin-es=1932841660&asin-it=1932841660&asin-fr=1932841660&asin-de=1932841660&asin-uk=1932841660&asin-ca=1932841660&asin-com=1932841660 "undefined"), editor George Beahm draws on more than 30 years of media coverage of Steve Jobs in order to find Jobs’ most thought-provoking insights on many aspects of life and creativity. In one particularly notable excerpt Jobs says: --- > “” --- The more you learn about, the more you can connect things. This becomes an argument for a broad-based education. In his [2005 commencement address to the class of Stanford](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/07/steve-jobs-stanford-commencement/ "undefined"), Jobs makes the case for learning things that, at the time, may not offer the most practical benefit. Over time, however, these things add up to give you a broader base of knowledge from which to connect ideas: --- > “” --- While education is important for building up a repository for which you can connect things, it’s not enough. You need broad life experiences as well. [I, Steve: Steve Jobs in His Own Words](http://a-fwd.com/es=farstrblo068-21&it=farstrblo0a-21&fr=farstrblo08-21&de=farstrblo07-21&uk=farstrblo-21&ca=farst-20&com=farnamstreet-20&asin-es=1932841660&asin-it=1932841660&asin-fr=1932841660&asin-de=1932841660&asin-uk=1932841660&asin-ca=1932841660&asin-com=1932841660 "undefined") is full of things that will make you think. **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/08/steve-jobs-on-creativity/ "undefined")**_._** **Join over 60,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/ "undefined")**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3977222/steve-jobs-creativity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3977222/steve-jobs-creativity/"},"headline":"What Steve Jobs Said About Creativity","datePublished":"2015-08-07T11:00:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:38:45.196Z","description":"\"Creativity is just connecting things.\"","url":"https://time.com/3977222/steve-jobs-creativity/","keywords":["Innovation","Psychology","Apple","Steve Jobs"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5dc0c0b8a9205acb/69885d140a4a2225dd9c561f/steve-jobs1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5dc0c0b8a9205acb/69885d140a4a2225dd9c561f/steve-jobs1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Steve Jobs at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on June 6, 2011.","caption":"Steve Jobs at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on June 6, 2011.","creditText":"Paul Sakuma—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3977222/steve-jobs-creativity/","name":"What Steve Jobs Said About Creativity"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Steve Jobs Lost Interview Exclusive Clip","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/j20YmQrI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2011-11-15T19:35:48.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/j20YmQrI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3977222/steve-jobs-creativity/","duration":"PT30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3977222/steve-jobs-creativity/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```