"What is called invention is in the nature of a communication.
Inventiveness in every field keeps pace with the acquisition and improvements of means of communication.
A good system of notation leads to invention.
You need to be two to invent. One man takes combinations, while the other selects, notices what he wants and what c an be of service to him in the total output of his colleague.
What is called
"genius" consists far less in the labors of the former- the act of combining-than in the promptitude with which the second man recognizes the value of what has been produced and takes that product serve his turn.*
*scorn of "natural gifts" and of all that has not been thought out."
Paul Valery
Analects