Edward De Bono Quotes

A painter may be looking at the world in a way which is very different from everyone else. If he's a craftsman, he can get other people to see the world through his eyes, and so he enlarges our vision, perception, and there's great value in that.

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

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

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.

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

Creativity gives the possibility of some sort of achievement to everyone.

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

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

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

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.

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.

There may be more danger in prejudices which are apparently founded in logic than in those which are acknowledged as emotions. (p69)

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.

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.

That wasn't a mistake, was 'a fully justified venture which, for reasons beyond your control, did not work

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.

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.

Logic will never change emotion or perception.

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

Our existing thinking habits are excellent, just as the rear wheels of a motor car are excellent, but not enough ...

When the positive revolution takes hold it will no longer be enough for politicians to gain points through attack or being negative. Politicians will be expected to be constructive.

One can think of a secretary actively operating a filing system, of a librarian actively cataloguing books, of a computer actively sorting out information. The mind however does not actively sort out information. The information sorts itself out and organises itself into patterns. The mind is passive. The mind only provides an opportunity for the information to behave in this way. The mind provides a special environment in which information can become self-organising. This special environment is a memory surface with special characteristics.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Mock the devil, and he will flee from thee.

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

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

In 80% of Socrates' dialogues there was no constructive outcome. He saw his role as simply pointing out what was wrong.

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.

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

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

Complacency with our traditional judgement based thinking methods is not enough. Our existing thinking habits are excellent just as the rear wheel of a motor car is excellent but not enough. We need to put far more emphasis on creative and design thinking. Judgement and analysis are not enough.

A problem is simply the difference between what one has and what one wants.

Some people are aware of another sort of thinking which ... leads to those simple ideas that are obvious only after they have been thought of ... the term 'lateral thinking' has been coined to describe this orther sort of thinking; 'vertical thinking' is used to denote the conventional logical process.

The weapons of the positive revolution are not bullets and bombs but simple human perceptions. Bullets and bombs may offer physical power but eventually will only work if they change perceptions and values. Why not go the direct route and work with perceptions and values?

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

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.

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

A question is a polite way of demanding something.

It wouldn't cost too much to change the rules of trade so that poor countries can work their way out of poverty. But the world's leaders won't act unless they hear enough people telling them. And every day they fail to act, thousands of people die because they can't afford the basics of survival.

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

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

You hold onto religion, you know, rules, regulations, traditions. I think what God is interested in is people's hearts, and that's hard enough.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

My thinking was taught to tribes in South Africa like the Zulus and Xhosas. At the time there were about 210 fights breaking out among them every month, but after they listened to my lessons, this fell to just four.

I must say, I don't feel very qualified to be a pop star. I feel very awkward at times in the role.

It's always amazed me how little attention philosophers, psychologists, or anyone else actually has paid to humor.

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

( ... ) 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.

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

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.

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

I know it aches, how your heart it breaks. You can only take so much. Walk on.

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.

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

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

With vertical thinking one may look for different approaches until one finds a promising one. With lateral thinking one goes on generating as many approaches as one can even after one has found a promising one. With vertical thinking one is trying to select the best approach but with lateral thinking one is generating different approaches for the sake of generating them.

If you understand the system you can design appropriate action.

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.

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

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

A good design is not a democratic consensus.

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

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

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.

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.

Creativity involves provocation, exploration and risk taking. Creativity involves "thought experiments." You cannot tell in advance how the experiment is going to turn out. But you want to be able to carry out the experiment.

Real life, however, is very different from school sums. There is usually more than one answer. Some answers are much better than others: they cost less, are more reliable or are more easy to implement. There is no reason at all for supposing that the first answer has to be the best one.

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

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

Explaining belief has alwayas been difficult. How do you explain a love and a logic at the heart of the universe when the world is so out of whack? Explaining faith is impossible - vision over visibility - instinct over intellect - a songwriter plays a chore with the faith that he will hear the next one in his head.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

I do a great deal of work with young children, and if you give a child a problem, he may come up with a highly original solution, because he doesn't have the established route to it.

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

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

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.

I'm a very loyal and unreliable friend.

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

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.

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

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

Instead of waiting for our attention to be pulled towards something unusual, we can set out frameworks for 'directing' our attention in a conscious manner.

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

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

Everything can be simplified. With enough simplification and enough patience on the part of the parent, anything can be simplified to the point that even very young children can begin to understand it.

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