Top 152 Quotes & Sayings by Edward de Bono - Page 2

As competition intensifies, the need for creative thinking increases. It is no longer enough to do the same thing better . . . no longer enough to be efficient and solve problems.

The image that concerns most people is the reflection they see in other people's minds.

The effective thinker treats arrogance as the major sin of thinking.

Only the human brain can deliberately change perceptions, change patterns, invent concepts and tolerate ambiguity.

Don't criticise a hypothesis, come up with a better one.

The analysis of data will not by itself produce new ideas.

To deal with future we have to deal with possibilities. Analysis will only tell us what is.

Every valuable creative idea must always be logical in hindsight. If it were not, we would never be able to see its value.

Man owes his success to his creativity. No one doubts the need for it. It is most useful in good times and essential in bad.

A myth is a fixed way of looking at the world which cannot be destroyed because, looked at through the myth, all evidence supports the myth.

Mock the devil, and he will flee from thee.

The power of a car is separate from the way the car is driven.

A question is a polite way of demanding something.

A good listener is very nearly as attractive as a good talker. You cannot have a beautiful mind if you do not know how to listen.

We still seek to solve conflicts with 'judgement' instead of designing the way forwards.

To develop thinking as a skill, it should be deliberate, focused, confident, and enjoyable.

Do we have the will to make poverty history?

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

Perception is real even when it is not reality.

If you do not design the future, someone or something else will design it for you.

You can analyse the past, but you have to design the future

The awful thing is that you can never be aware of what you are not aware of.

America is not just a country, it's an idea.

Traditional thinking is all about "what is" Future thinking will also need to be about what can be.

Thinking is the ultimate human resource. Yet we can never be satisfied with our most important skill. No matter how good we become, we should always want to be better

Lateral thinking... is the process of using information to bring about creativity and insight restructuring. Lateral thinking can be learned, practised and used. It is possible to acquire skill in it just as it is possible to acquire skill in mathematics.

It is well known that "problem avoidance" is an important part of problem solving. Instead of solving the problem you go upstream and alter the system so that the problem does not occur in the first place.

This new meta-system is very much in favor of the self, but a self that is based on a proper sense of dignity, not on an inflated ego. A person who dare not admit he is wrong inflates his ego but weakens his self.

You do not go out into the street in your underwear, although usually you are wearing underwear. The underwear is not visible but it is there all the time. It is the same with concepts. They are there. They underlie practical things we do- even when we are not conscious of them.

The simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity.

It's not enough to rage against the lie.. you've got to replace it with the truth.

Critical thinking does seem a superior sort of thinking because it seems as though the critic is actually going beyond the scope of what is being criticized in order to criticize it. That is only rarely a true assumption because, most often, the critic will seize on some little aspect that he or she understands and tackle only that.

Being right is not too difficult. Your choose your perception. You select your information. You leave out what does not suit you. You drag in some general-purpose value words. You throw in a sneer or two about the opposition, and you are a fine fellow who made a fine speech.

I'm tired of dreaming. I'm into doing at the moment. It's, like, let's only have goals that we can go after.

We need both information and thinking. Information is no substitute for thinking and thinking is no substitute for information.

We may have a perfectly adequate way of doing something, but that does not mean there cannot be a better way. So we set out to find an alternative way. This is the basis of any improvement that is not fault correction or problem solving.

Western traditions of education have emphasized knowledge analysis, description and debate. They all have a part to play, but today there is a whole vast aspect of doing that has just been left out. Operacy is what keeps society going.

I used to think that one day I'd be able to resolve the different drives I have in different directions, the tensions between the different people I am. Now I realize that is who I am. I do feel I'm getting closer to the song in my head. I wasn't looking for grace. But luckily grace was looking for me.

We may need to solve problems not by removing the cause but by designing the way forward even if the cause remains in place.

When the story of these times gets written, we want it to say that we did all we could, and it was more than anyone could have imagined.

Creativity and lateral thinking have exactly the same basis as humour.

Complexity creates confusion, simplicity focus.

Everyone has the right to doubt everything as often as he pleases and the duty to do it at least once. No way of looking at things is too sacred to be reconsidered. No way of doing things is beyond improvement.

Unfortunately, our existing traditional thinking habits insist that you must attack something and show it to be bad before you can suggest a change. It is more difficult to acknowledge that something is excellent and then to ask for change because although it is excellent, it is not enough.

It is historical continuity that maintains most assumptions, not repeated assessment of their validity.

Most people...are put off science because maths is the gateway and they can't handle it. What we should be teaching is operational maths because, in general, the maths we need to carry out science is pretty straightforward.

A good design is not a democratic consensus.

The solid wealth of insurance companies and the success of those who organsie gambling are some indication of the profits to be derived from the efficient use of chance.

I'm in love with this country called "America." I'm a huge fan of America. I'm one of those annoying fans - you know, the ones that read the cd notes and follow you into bathrooms and ask you all kinds of annoying questions about why you didn't live up to that. I'm that kind of fan. I've read the Declaration of Independence, and I've read the Constitution of the United States, and they are some liner notes, dude.

Once a new idea springs into existence, it cannot be unthought. There is a sense of immortality in a new idea.

The music that really turns me on is either running toward God or away from God. Both recognize the pivot, that God is at the center of the jaunt.

Creativity is a great motivator because it mades people interested in what they are doing.

Happiness is for those who don't really need it. So I can live without happiness.

You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper

The Church has its problems, but the older I get, the more comfort I find there.

The concept of logical thinking is selection and this is brought about by the processes of acceptance and rejection. Rejection is the basis of logical thinking.

Possibilities play a much bigger role in thinking than most people believe. Without possibilities you cannot make progress.

A person who knows all the answers, has an opinion on everything, has a certainty backed up by rational argument, has very little possibility of further progress. Such a person is unlikely to walk away from a discussion with anything more than a reaffirmation of how right he or she has been all along.

Some people drift along like a cork on a river, feeling that they cannot do anything except drift, moment to moment. This is an attitude of mind. Everyone can be constructive even in tiny ways.

Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting.