Edward De Bono Quotes That Are creative, thinking and problem-solving

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Asking a question is the simplest way of focusing thinking.

..asking the right question may be the most important part of thinking.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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'.

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

Mock the devil, and he will flee from thee.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

Effectiveness without values is a tool without a purpose.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Perception is real even when it is not reality.

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.

Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting.