Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1182IR // #c1182Synthesis

"Lord Bacon left behind him many manuscripts entitled 'Sudden thoughts set down for use.'" "These note-books afterwards proved, like Richter's 'quarries,' the great storehouse from which he drew his illustrations."

— In our words · Source: Self-Help (Samuel Smiles)

[Use when]

Good ideas show up when you aren't working and are gone by the time you are.

[Why it matters]

Bacon, Eldon, Pye Smith and John Hunter all kept running notes, and the habit gave them stock to draw on later. Pye Smith's biographer called him "always at work, always in advance, always accumulating."

Filed under situations:When you’re building the thing, not just planning it

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