Famous Quotes

Quotes by Edward De Bono

• Argument is meant to reveal the truth, not to create it.
• 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.
• Humor is by far the most significant activity of the human brain.
• If you never change your mind, why have one?
• In a sense, words are encyclopedias of ignorance because they freeze perceptions at one moment in history and then insist we continue to use these frozen perceptions when we should be doing better.
• 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.
• 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.
• Logic will never change emotion or perception.
• 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.
• 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.
• Removing the faults in a stage-coach may produce a perfect stage-coach, but it is unlikely to produce the first motor car.
• 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.
• 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.
• We need creativity in order to break free from the temporary structures that have been set up by a particular sequence of experience.