An egg of Columbus or Columbus's egg refers to a brilliant idea or discovery that seems simple or easy after the fact. The expression refers to a popular story of how Christopher Columbus, having been told that discovering the Americas was no great accomplishment, challenged his critics to make an egg stand on its tip. After his challengers gave up, Columbus did it himself by tapping the egg on the table so as to flatten its tip.
The story is often alluded to when discussing creativity. The term has also been used as the trade name of puzzles.
Read more about Egg Of Columbus: Source of The Story, In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words egg of, egg and/or columbus:
“Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience. A rustling in the leaves drives him away.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)
“If there was one egg in it there were nine,
Torpedo-like, with shell of gritty leather,
All packed in sand to wait the trump together.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“These were the sounds that issued from the wigwams of this country before Columbus was born; they have not yet died away; and, with remarkably few exceptions, the language of their forefathers is still copious enough for them. I felt that I stood, or rather lay, as near to the primitive man of America, that night, as any of its discoverers ever did.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)