I'm ever curious about the world. I'm driven to go out and find

“I’m ever curious about the world. I’m driven to go out and find new things to write about. Having a vivid imagination is also a plus.” Thus spoke David Baldacci, the storyteller of mystery and motion, whose pen has captured the pulse of human intrigue and the wonder of the unknown. In these simple words lies a truth both ancient and eternal — that the soul which is curious, the mind that dares to wander, and the heart that burns with imagination, walks the path of creation itself. For curiosity is the seed of discovery, and imagination is the light that brings it to bloom. Together, they form the twin wings by which humankind rises above the ordinary toward the divine.

To be curious is to refuse the prison of the known. It is to stand before the endless vastness of the world and whisper, “There is more.” This, perhaps, is what Baldacci means when he says he is “ever curious about the world.” The artist, the scientist, the philosopher — all share this sacred hunger. It is the restlessness of the spirit that refuses to be still, that yearns to peel back the veil of mystery covering the face of existence. It is the same curiosity that drove the ancient mariners beyond the horizon, the astronomers to lift their eyes to the heavens, and the poets to look inward and map the constellations of the soul.

Yet curiosity alone, though noble, is not enough. For curiosity gathers the fragments of experience, but it is imagination that assembles them into meaning. Imagination is the power that gives form to wonder. It transforms the mere fact into story, the discovery into insight, the world into art. Without imagination, the curious mind collects, but does not create. Thus, when Baldacci speaks of the “plus” of a vivid imagination, he names the divine spark that turns the explorer into a creator. It is through imagination that curiosity finds voice — through words, images, and visions that awaken others to see anew.

Consider the tale of Leonardo da Vinci, that immortal craftsman of both science and art. He dissected bodies not from morbidity, but from curiosity, to learn the secrets of the living machine. Yet his notes, filled with sketches of wings and whirlpools, reveal not only the scholar’s observation but the dreamer’s vision. His imagination saw birds and wondered how man might join them in flight; it saw the muscles of a hand and thought of the grace of motion. Curiosity led him to observe the world — imagination allowed him to re-create it. Together, they made him timeless.

So too does Baldacci, in his craft as a writer, walk this ancient path. His stories begin not with invention, but with observation — a detail in a newspaper, a conversation overheard, a question that will not die. From these seeds, his imagination builds worlds — vivid, vast, alive. Like the storytellers of old, he becomes both student and shaper of life, taking from reality and giving back to it. In this, he teaches a truth that all seekers must learn: that to live as a creator is to live as an eternal learner. For the moment curiosity fades, the spirit begins to wither.

The ancients often said that wonder is the beginning of wisdom. They understood that curiosity is not merely the thirst for knowledge, but the reverence for existence. To be curious is to worship the unknown; to be imaginative is to bring the unseen into light. Thus, every act of exploration, whether of nature or of the heart, is sacred. When Baldacci speaks of being “driven to go out and find new things,” he echoes the same impulse that has carried humanity forward since its dawn — the holy restlessness that will not let us settle for ignorance, that forever pushes us toward creation and understanding.

The lesson, then, is this: nurture your curiosity as you would tend a flame, and feed your imagination as you would nourish the soul. Go into the world not as one who knows, but as one who seeks. Read, travel, listen, observe — for every moment is a door, and every encounter a key. Then, when your heart is full, let your imagination speak. Build from what you have gathered — in art, in word, in action — something that reveals the beauty you have seen. The world hungers not only for knowledge, but for vision — and it is through you, through the union of curiosity and imagination, that vision is born.

So remember, as David Baldacci reminds us, the greatest journey is not through lands or libraries, but through the boundless landscapes of the mind. The curious find the paths — the imaginative make them new. And those who walk with both are the true architects of the future, shaping from wonder the ever-unfolding story of humankind.