"Imagination is more important than knowledge." Is it?

Albert Einstein once said that imagination is more important than knowledge. How true can that be? What is knowledge? The web says it is - "facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject". So now, what is imagination? The Merriam Webster dictionary says it is the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality. 

You see, how easy it is to collect information in this digital age? Few seconds is all it takes and it is open to the world wide web! Now, I am not down right putting down the importance of knowledge. It takes a lot a lot of time and effort to even get to the right state of mind to accept and perceive this kind of information, and one might actually lead a good life out of this knowledge. But a person may lead a much better life with lesser knowledge and more of imagination.

Think of some of the world leaders in various fields. Be it Gandhi, Mandela, or  the NASA team that successfully landed on Moon or Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg .Were they the world's most knowledgeable people? Probably not! But what really separated them from the rest of the world was their imagination. They imagined freedom, a passion to explore beyond earth and a world of personal computers and a digital era. They imagined something much much larger than themselves. Can you think of a world without them today? How very different it would be!

Oh imagination wins hands down! Absolutely.  

Here is another favorite of mine from Einstein: