"Vision - It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own"
About this Quote
The construction is doing quiet persuasive work. “It reaches beyond the thing that is” flatters the reader’s dissatisfaction with the present without turning into utopian fog. “Conception of what can be” is pragmatic possibility, not fantasy. Collier’s key move is the possessive turn: “make the picture your own.” That’s not just about creativity; it’s about agency, and arguably about commerce. A publisher lives at the junction where ideas become products, where a compelling vision isn’t merely admired but packaged, sold, and circulated. The subtext: plenty of people can dream, fewer will claim the dream, and fewer still will do the unglamorous work of making it real.
There’s also a moral hierarchy embedded here. Imagination is presented as gift-like and effortless; vision is earned, almost muscular. In a culture that romanticizes “big ideas,” Collier is lobbying for the less photogenic virtue: the appetite to commit, to revise the world until it matches the picture you can’t stop seeing.
Quote Details
| Topic | Vision & Strategy |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Collier, Robert. (2026, January 17). Vision - It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/vision-it-reaches-beyond-the-thing-that-is-into-41855/
Chicago Style
Collier, Robert. "Vision - It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/vision-it-reaches-beyond-the-thing-that-is-into-41855/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Vision - It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/vision-it-reaches-beyond-the-thing-that-is-into-41855/. Accessed 23 Feb. 2026.











