"The need to be right all the time is the biggest bar to new ideas."
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Quote collection
Edward de Bono quotes (page 3 of 8)
150 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain subjective, negative, ungrateful way."
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"You cannot look in a new direction by looking harder in the same direction."
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"Mock the devil, and he will flee from thee."
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"Opportunity ideas do not lie around waiting to be discovered. Such ideas need to be produced."
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"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."
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"Traditional thinking is all about "what is" Future thinking will also need to be about what can be."
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"America is not just a country, it's an idea."
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"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."
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"The simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity."
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"Simplicity before understanding is simplistic; simplicity after understanding is simple."
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"We need creativity in order to break free from the temporary structures that have been set up by a particular sequence of experience."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"The effective thinker treats arrogance as the major sin of thinking."
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"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."
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"Every valuable creative idea must always be logical in hindsight. If it were not, we would never be able to see its value."
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"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."
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"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."
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