"Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier"
About this Quote
An open mind is pitched here less as a personality trait than as an engine: it manufactures “frontiers” the way a restless economy manufactures new markets. Dorthea Brande, a writer best known for thinking seriously about the habits and psychology of creative work, is making a quiet argument against the romance of inspiration and the complacency of “already knowing.” The frontier isn’t a place you find; it’s a boundary you keep redrawing.
The line works because it steals the language of American expansion and repurposes it inward. “Frontier” carries mythic baggage: risk, possibility, self-reliance, the promise that tomorrow can be bigger than today. Brande borrows that charge to say something more pragmatic: curiosity generates problems worth solving, and problems create momentum. An “open mind” is not simply tolerant or agreeable; it’s unsealed, permeable, willing to be surprised and therefore willing to be changed. That willingness turns the world into unfinished material.
The subtext is also a rebuke. If you feel stuck, the obstacle may not be a lack of talent or opportunity but a closed circuit of assumptions. Brande’s frontier is anti-cynicism: it suggests boredom is often a failure of attention, and “no new ideas” is frequently “no new questions.”
Context matters, too: writing advice in the early 20th century often battled rigidity, propriety, and the fear of looking foolish. Brande’s sentence offers a democratic, repeatable kind of adventure. You don’t need a map or permission. You need receptivity - and the courage to follow where it leads.
The line works because it steals the language of American expansion and repurposes it inward. “Frontier” carries mythic baggage: risk, possibility, self-reliance, the promise that tomorrow can be bigger than today. Brande borrows that charge to say something more pragmatic: curiosity generates problems worth solving, and problems create momentum. An “open mind” is not simply tolerant or agreeable; it’s unsealed, permeable, willing to be surprised and therefore willing to be changed. That willingness turns the world into unfinished material.
The subtext is also a rebuke. If you feel stuck, the obstacle may not be a lack of talent or opportunity but a closed circuit of assumptions. Brande’s frontier is anti-cynicism: it suggests boredom is often a failure of attention, and “no new ideas” is frequently “no new questions.”
Context matters, too: writing advice in the early 20th century often battled rigidity, propriety, and the fear of looking foolish. Brande’s sentence offers a democratic, repeatable kind of adventure. You don’t need a map or permission. You need receptivity - and the courage to follow where it leads.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
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