Explore the most impactful and insightful quotes and sayings by Edward De Bono, and enrich your perspective with the wisdom. Share these inspiring Edward De Bono quotes pictures with your friends on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, or your personal blogs, completely free. Here are the top 140 Edward De Bono quotes for you to read and share.
I'm a very loyal and unreliable friend. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
You can analyse the past, but you need to design the future. That is the difference between suffering the future and enjoying it. -- Edward De Bono
The Church has its problems, but the older I get, the more comfort I find there. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
If you never change your mind, why have one? -- Edward De Bono
Creativity gives the possibility of some sort of achievement to everyone. -- Edward De Bono
People should realize we're jerks just like them. -- Edward De Bono
To me, a faith in Jesus Christ that is not aligned with the poor ... it's nothing. -- Edward De Bono
Traditional thinking is all about "what is" Future thinking will also need to be about what can be. -- Edward De Bono
You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper -- Edward De Bono
A good design is not a democratic consensus. -- Edward De Bono
If you wait for opportunities to occur, you will be one of the crowd. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
Argument is meant to reveal the truth, not to create it. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
Child mortality [since 2000 is] down by 2.65 million a year. That's a rate of 7,256 children's lives saved each day ... It drives me nuts that most people don't seem to know this news. -- Edward De Bono
Effectiveness without values is a tool without a purpose. -- Edward De Bono
If you do not design the future, someone or something else will design it for you. -- Edward De Bono
Maybe the social value of truth is as a destination - so long as we do not assume we have arrived there. -- Edward De Bono
Our existing thinking habits are excellent, just as the rear wheels of a motor car are excellent, but not enough ... -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
I must say, I don't feel very qualified to be a pop star. I feel very awkward at times in the role. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
The quality of our thinking will determine the quality of our future -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
Only the human brain can deliberately change perceptions, change patterns, invent concepts and tolerate ambiguity. -- Edward De Bono
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 -- Edward De Bono
In 80% of Socrates' dialogues there was no constructive outcome. He saw his role as simply pointing out what was wrong. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
We need creativity in order to break free from the temporary structures that have been set up by a particular sequence of experience. -- Edward De Bono
Asking a question is the simplest way of focusing thinking ... asking the right question may be the most important part of thinking. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
You can't dig a different hole by digging the same one deeper. -- Edward De Bono
Every valuable creative idea must always be logical in hindsight. If it were not, we would never be able to see its value. -- Edward De Bono
Mock the devil, and he will flee from thee. -- Edward De Bono
Creative thinking - in terms of idea creativity - is not a mystical talent. It is a skill that can be practised and nurtured. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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'. -- Edward De Bono
Creativity and lateral thinking have exactly the same basis as humour. -- Edward De Bono
In the art world, creativity involves aesthetic sensibility, emotional resonance and a gift for expression. -- Edward De Bono
It is not the logical part of thinking that changes emotions but the perceptual part. If we see something differently, our emotions may alter with the altered perception. (p64) -- Edward De Bono
Logic will never change emotion or perception. -- Edward De Bono
There may be more danger in prejudices which are apparently founded in logic than in those which are acknowledged as emotions. (p69) -- Edward De Bono
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? -- Edward De Bono
They enjoy thinking. They enjoy being creative. They enjoy having ideas. Most people do not enjoy thinking at all. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
Companies that solely focus on competition will ultimately die. Those that focus on value creation will thrive. -- Edward De Bono
Complexity means distracted effort. Simplicity means focused effort. -- Edward De Bono
The system will always be defended by those countless people who have enough intellect to defend but not quite enough to innovate. -- Edward De Bono
It's not enough to rage against the lie.. you've got to replace it with the truth. -- Edward De Bono
The image that concerns most people is the reflection they see in other people's minds. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
We do not make very full value of the opportunities provided by technology because we prefer critical to constructive thinking, argument to design. -- Edward De Bono
Intelligence is something we are born with. Thinking is a skill that must be learned. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
To deal with future we have to deal with possibilities. Analysis will only tell us what is. -- Edward De Bono
Perception is real even when it is not reality. -- Edward De Bono
A characteristic of intuitive solutions and new ideas is that of being obvious once they are discovered. -- Edward De Bono
To develop thinking as a skill, it should be deliberate, focused, confident, and enjoyable. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
An expert is someone who has succeeded in making decisions and judgements simpler through knowing what to pay attention to and what to ignore. -- Edward De Bono
We still seek to solve conflicts with 'judgement' instead of designing the way forwards. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
Don't criticise a hypothesis, come up with a better one. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations. -- Edward De Bono
Creativity can be learned like basketball, which does not mean we will all be NBA stars. -- Edward De Bono
An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
Possibilities play a much bigger role in thinking than most people believe. Without possibilities you cannot make progress. -- Edward De Bono
A problem is simply the difference between what one has and what one wants. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
What is urgent will always take precedence over what is important. -- Edward De Bono
A question is a polite way of demanding something. -- Edward De Bono
Once a new idea springs into existence, it cannot be unthought. There is a sense of immortality in a new idea. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
Simplicity before understanding is simplistic; simplicity after understanding is simple. -- Edward De Bono
The effective thinker treats arrogance as the major sin of thinking. -- Edward De Bono
Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
You cannot look in a new direction by looking harder in the same direction. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
Although feelings are not supposed to intrude on business discussions, they do anyway - we just disguise them as logic. -- Edward De Bono
Creativity gives hope that there can be a worthwhile idea. -- Edward De Bono
It is historical continuity that maintains most assumptions,
not repeated assessment of their validity. -- Edward De Bono
The purpose of art is to reflect new emerging values and to define the new heroes and heroines so that people can absorb them into their perceptions. -- Edward De Bono
We need both information and thinking. Information is no substitute for thinking and thinking is no substitute for information. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
It's always amazed me how little attention philosophers, psychologists, or anyone else actually has paid to humor. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
Opportunity ideas do not lie around waiting to be discovered. Such ideas need to be produced. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
The awful thing is that you can never be aware of what you are not aware of. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
To be successful you have to be lucky, or a little mad, or very talented, or find yourself in a rapid growth field. -- Edward De Bono
Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic. -- Edward De Bono
If you understand the system you can design appropriate action. -- Edward De Bono
We may need to solve problems not by removing the cause but by designing the way forward even if the cause remains in place. -- Edward De Bono
A discussion should be a genuine attempt to explore a subject rather than a battle between competing egos. -- Edward De Bono
To cultivate a pleasure in being wrong sounds perverse, yet losing an argument means escaping from an old idea and the acquisition of a new way of looking at things. -- Edward De Bono
Removing the faults in a stage-coach may produce a perfect stage-coach, but it is unlikely to produce the first motor car. -- Edward De Bono
Do we have the will to make poverty history? -- Edward De Bono
A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen. -- Edward De Bono
The need to be right all the time is the biggest bar to new ideas. -- Edward De Bono
I think school is a place where thinking should be taught. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
Humor is by far the most significant activity of the human brain. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
Democracy is an excellent way of ensuring that nothing much gets done. There are always interests that might get trampled upon [and no elected politician would wish to make permanent enemies by trampling upon others' interests]. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
The winner is the chef who takes the same ingredients as everyone else and produces the best results. -- Edward De Bono
You can analyse the past, but you have to design the future -- Edward De Bono
I could never be a politician because I think I'm too selfish, and I think I like to have fun.. the right to be irresponsible is a right I hold dear. -- Edward De Bono
The simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity. -- Edward De Bono
The analysis of data will not by itself produce new ideas ... -- Edward De Bono
I know it aches, how your heart it breaks. You can only take so much. Walk on. -- Edward De Bono
Teaching thinking for just five hours to unemployed youngsters increased employment 500 percent. -- Edward De Bono
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. -- Edward De Bono
What the joke displays is a switch in perception. This is important in changing the way we think. -- Edward De Bono
On trade, our hypocrisy is at its most appalling. Trade reform isn't about charity, it's about justice, and this campaign, Trade Justice is an unstoppable idea. -- Edward De Bono
