Edward de Bono
Perception is real even when it is not reality.Collection: Real
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.Collection: Beautiful
The simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity.Collection: Powerful
A discussion should be a genuine attempt to explore a subject rather than a battle between competing egos.Collection: Ego
Simplicity before understanding is simplistic; simplicity after understanding is simple.Collection: Simple
Complexity means distracted effort. Simplicity means focused effort.Collection: Mean
The analysis of data will not by itself produce new ideas.Collection: Data
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.Collection: Progress
We still seek to solve conflicts with 'judgement' instead of designing the way forwards.Collection: Judging
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.Collection: Self
Creativity and lateral thinking have exactly the same basis as humour.Collection: Creativity
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.Collection: Attitude
Creativity is a great motivator because it mades people interested in what they are doing.Collection: Creativity
Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain subjective, negative, ungrateful way.Collection: Gratitude
In the art world, creativity involves aesthetic sensibility, emotional resonance and a gift for expression.Collection: Art
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.Collection: Real
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.Collection: Acceptance
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.Collection: Gambling
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.Collection: Country
Creativity gives hope that there can be a worthwhile idea.Collection: Hope
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.Collection: Encouragement
Although feelings are not supposed to intrude on business discussions, they do anyway - we just disguise them as logic.Collection: Feelings
There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all.Collection: Creativity
A characteristic of intuitive solutions and new ideas is that of being obvious once they are discovered.Collection: Ideas
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.Collection: Compassion
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.Collection: Together
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.Collection: Perseverance
Complexity creates confusion, simplicity focus.Collection: Confusion
The awful thing is that you can never be aware of what you are not aware of.Collection: Awful
To deal with future we have to deal with possibilities. Analysis will only tell us what is.Collection: Future
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.Collection: Thinking
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.Collection: Two
Don't criticise a hypothesis, come up with a better one.Collection: Come Up
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.Collection: Inspirational
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.Collection: Thinking
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.Collection: Education
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.Collection: Inspirational
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.Collection: Underwear
A good design is not a democratic consensus.Collection: Business
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.Collection: Important
To me, a faith in Jesus Christ that is not aligned with the poor ... it's nothing.Collection: Jesus
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.Collection: Education
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.Collection: Running
The Church has its problems, but the older I get, the more comfort I find there.Collection: Church
They enjoy thinking. They enjoy being creative. They enjoy having ideas. Most people do not enjoy thinking at all.Collection: Thinking
A question is a polite way of demanding something.Collection: Way
Do we have the will to make poverty history?Collection: Poverty
Happiness is for those who don't really need it. So I can live without happiness.Collection: Happiness