Edward de bono quotes

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.

If you wait for opportunities to occur, you will be one of the crowd.

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

The quality of our thinking will determine the quality of our future

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

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

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

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

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.

One very important aspect of motivation is the willingness to stop and to look at things that no one else has bothered to look at. This simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity.

Argument is meant to reveal the truth, not to create it.

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

It has always surprised me how little attention philosophers have paid to humor, since it is a more significant process of mind than reason. Reason can only sort out perceptions, but the humor process is involved in changing them.

(...) being right all the time acquires a huge importance in education, and there is this terror of being wrong. The ego is so tied to being right that later on in life you are reluctant to accept that you are ever wrong, because you are defending not the idea but your self-esteem. (...) this terror of being wrong means that people have enormous difficulties in changing ideas.

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

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.

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.

The mind can only see what it is prepared to see.

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

Logic will never change emotion or perception.

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

Opportunity ideas do not lie around waiting to be discovered. Such ideas need to be produced.

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

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.

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

Creativity is a great motivator because it makes people interested in what they are doing. Creativity gives hope that there can be a worthwhile idea. Creativity gives the possibility of some sort of achievement to everyone. Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting.

Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations.

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

I think there is a danger with young people of being dependent in the sense that they don't acquire any identity or self-image of themselves as thinkers.

Teaching thinking for just five hours to unemployed youngsters increased employment 500 percent.

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

Creative thinking is not a talent, it is a skill that can be learned. It empowers people by adding strength to their natural abilities which improves teamwork, productivity and, where appropriate, profits.

Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists.

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

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

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.

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.

Studies have shown that 90% of error in thinking is due to error in perception. If you can change your perception, you can change your emotion and this can lead to new ideas.

A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen.

In the future, instead of striving to be right at a high cost, it will be more appropriate to be flexible and plural at a lower cost. If you cannot accurately predict the future then you must flexibly be prepared to deal with various possible futures.

The vertical thinker says: 'I know what I am looking for.' The lateral thinker says: 'I am looking but I won't know what I am looking for until I have found it.'

I think school is a place where thinking should be taught.

Most executives, many scientists, and almost all business school graduates believe that if you analyze data, this will give you new ideas. Unfortunately, this belief is totally wrong. The mind can only see what it is prepared to see.

They enjoy thinking. They enjoy being creative. They enjoy having ideas. Most people do not enjoy thinking at all.

Dealing with complexity is an inefficient and unnecessary waste of time, attention and mental energy. There is never any justification for things being complex when they could be simple.

Complexity creates confusion, simplicity focus.

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.

There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all.

Perception is real even when it is not reality.

What is urgent will always take precedence over what is important.

The purpose of science is not to analyze or describe but to make useful models of the world. A model is useful if it allows us to get use out of it.

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.

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.

If you never change your mind, why have one?

Companies that solely focus on competition will ultimately die. Those that focus on value creation will thrive.

We need creativity in order to break free from the temporary structures that have been set up by a particular sequence of experience.

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

There's a danger in the internet and social media. The notion that information is enough, that more and more information is enough, that you don't have to think, you just have to get more information - gets very dangerous.

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.

You can't dig a different hole by digging the same one deeper.

Do we have the will to make poverty history?

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

Although feelings are not supposed to intrude on business discussions, they do anyway - we just disguise them as logic.

The need to be right all the time is the biggest bar to new ideas.

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

Everywhere I go, I see very much the same thing. I see the same compassion for people who live half a world away. I see the same concern about events beyond these borders. And, increasingly, I see the same conviction that we can and we must join together to stop the scourge of AIDS and poverty.

Intelligence is something we are born with. Thinking is a skill that must be learned.

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

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.

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.

Language is the biggest barrier to human progress because language is an encyclopedia of ignorance. Old perceptions are frozen into language and force us to look at the world in an old fashioned way.

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.

A question is a polite way of demanding something.

A good design is not a democratic consensus.

Many highly intelligent people are poor thinkers. Many people of average intelligence are skilled thinkers. The power of a car is separate from the way the car is driven.

Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting.

Humor is by far the most significant activity of the human brain.

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

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

Mock the devil, and he will flee from thee.

Complexity means distracted effort. Simplicity means focused effort.

Creative thinking - in terms of idea creativity - is not a mystical talent. It is a skill that can be practised and nurtured.

Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain subjective, negative, ungrateful way.

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.

Simplicity before understanding is simplistic; simplicity after understanding is simple.

Humor is probably the most significant characteristics of the human mind. Far more significant than reason. In fact, reason is actually a very cheap commodity.

Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic.

There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.

An expert is someone who has succeeded in making decisions and judgements simpler through knowing what to pay attention to and what to ignore.

Effectiveness without values is a tool without a purpose.

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.

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.

What the joke displays is a switch in perception. This is important in changing the way we think.

Asking a question is the simplest way of focusing thinking...asking the right question may be the most important part of thinking.

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.

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.

To me, a faith in Jesus Christ that is not aligned with the poor ... it's nothing.

You cannot look in a new direction by looking harder in the same direction.

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

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.

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

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.

The winner is the chef who takes the same ingredients as everyone else and produces the best results.

An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.

People should realize we're jerks just like them.

To be successful you have to be lucky, or a little mad, or very talented, or find yourself in a rapid growth field.

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

A characteristic of intuitive solutions and new ideas is that of being obvious once they are discovered.

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.

The system will always be defended by those countless people who have enough intellect to defend but not quite enough to innovate.

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

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

Creativity can be learned like basketball, which does not mean we will all be NBA stars.

Removing the faults in a stage-coach may produce a perfect stage-coach, but it is unlikely to produce the first motor car.

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

A discussion should be a genuine attempt to explore a subject rather than a battle between competing egos.

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.

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.

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.

Analysis is simplifying, breaking down things into parts, picking out strands and elements. Analysis is comparing unknown things with things that are known. Analysis also involves picking out relationships and putting them back together as a whole.

In the art world, creativity involves aesthetic sensibility, emotional resonance and a gift for expression.

Lateral thinking is concerned not with playing with the existing pieces but with seeking to change those very pieces. It is concerned with the perception part of thinking. This is where we organise the external world into the pieces we can then 'process'.

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.

You can analyse the past, but you need to design the future. That is the difference between suffering the future and enjoying it.

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