--- title: Psychology: Seneca on Gathering Ideas and Combinatorial Creativity description: How to gather ideas and combine them into a new creation canonical: https://time.com/3976652/seneca-ideas-creativity/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-10T11:00:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:30.468Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How to Gather Ideas and Combine Them Into a New Creation og:description: Advice from Seneca on creativity og:url: https://time.com/3976652/seneca-ideas-creativity/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt528c826574b4e050/69885d07f887dc2b56e919a2/books-stacked-table.jpg?branch=production&width=343&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 343 og:image:height: 193 og:image:alt: books-stacked-table og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to Gather Ideas and Combine Them Into a New Creation twitter:description: Advice from Seneca on creativity twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt528c826574b4e050/69885d07f887dc2b56e919a2/books-stacked-table.jpg?branch=production&width=343&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How to Gather Ideas and Combine Them Into a New Creation > Sponsored content. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: Business of Creativity: The Dancer [Watch (HLS stream): Business of Creativity: The Dancer](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Tbh54prW.m3u8) (3:39)  _Published 2012-10-26. When Karine Newborn's injury sidelined her succesful dance career, some soul-searching and business sense opened doors_ by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Aug 10, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Glasses on a stack of books Glasses on a stack of books Getty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Aug 10, 2015 11:00 AM UTC “Combinatory play,” [said Einstein](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/04/einstein-productive-thought-combinatory-creativity/), “seems to be the essential feature in productive thought.” Ruminating on the necessity of both reading and writing, so as not to confine ourselves to either, Seneca in one of his [Epistles](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=0674990854&asin-it=0674990854&asin-fr=0674990854&asin-de=0674990854&asin-uk=0674990854&asin-ca=0674990854&asin-com=0674990854), advised that we engage in Combinatorial Creativity — that is, gather ideas, sift them, and combine them into a new creation. --- > “” --- Montaigne, perhaps echoing Seneca, reasoned that [we must take knowledge and make it our own](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/01/knowledge-and-opinions-upon-trust/), Seneca comments: --- > “” --- The Loeb Classic Library collection of Seneca’s Epistles in three volumes ([1-65](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=0674990846&asin-it=0674990846&asin-fr=0674990846&asin-de=0674990846&asin-uk=0674990846&asin-ca=0674990846&asin-com=0674990846), [66-92](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=0674990854&asin-it=0674990854&asin-fr=0674990854&asin-de=0674990854&asin-uk=0674990854&asin-ca=0674990854&asin-com=0674990854), and [92-124](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=0674990862&asin-it=0674990862&asin-fr=0674990862&asin-de=0674990862&asin-uk=0674990862&asin-ca=0674990862&asin-com=0674990862)), should be read by all in its entirety. Of course, if you don’t have time to read them all, you can read a [heavily curated version](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=0140442103&asin-it=0140442103&asin-fr=0140442103&asin-de=0140442103&asin-uk=0140442103&asin-ca=0140442103&asin-com=0140442103) of them. **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/07/seneca-on-combinatorial-creativity/)**_._** **Join over 60,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3976652/seneca-ideas-creativity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3976652/seneca-ideas-creativity/"},"headline":"How to Gather Ideas and Combine Them Into a New Creation","datePublished":"2015-08-10T11:00:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:49:30.468Z","description":"How to gather ideas and combine them into a new creation","url":"https://time.com/3976652/seneca-ideas-creativity/","keywords":["Innovation","Psychology","Creativity","learning"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt528c826574b4e050/69885d07f887dc2b56e919a2/books-stacked-table.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/blt528c826574b4e050/69885d07f887dc2b56e919a2/books-stacked-table.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"books-stacked-table","caption":"books-stacked-table","creditText":"Getty Images","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/3976652/seneca-ideas-creativity/","name":"How to Gather Ideas and Combine Them Into a New Creation"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Business of Creativity: The Dancer","description":"When Karine Newborn's injury sidelined her succesful dance career, some soul-searching and business sense opened doors","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Tbh54prW/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2012-10-26T16:53:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Tbh54prW.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3976652/seneca-ideas-creativity/","duration":"PT3M39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3976652/seneca-ideas-creativity/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```