"Once a new idea springs into existence, it cannot be unthought. There is a sense of immortality in a new idea."
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Quote collection
Edward de Bono quotes (page 7 of 8)
150 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"The Church has its problems, but the older I get, the more comfort I find there."
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"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."
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"Creativity and lateral thinking have exactly the same basis as humour."
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"We still seek to solve conflicts with 'judgement' instead of designing the way forwards."
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"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."
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"Do we have the will to make poverty history?"
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"I'm a very loyal and unreliable friend."
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"I know it aches, how your heart it breaks. You can only take so much. Walk on."
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"Some people are aware of another sort of thinking which... leads to those simple ideas that are obvious only after they have been thought of... the term 'lateral thinking' has been coined to describe this orther sort of thinking; 'vertical thinking' is used to denote the conventional logical process."
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"One can think of a secretary actively operating a filing system, of a librarian actively cataloguing books, of a computer actively sorting out information. The mind however does not actively sort out information. The information sorts itself out and organises itself into patterns. The mind is passive. The mind only provides an opportunity for the information to behave in this way. The mind provides a special environment in which information can become self-organising. This special environment is a memory surface with special characteristics."
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"People should realize we're jerks just like them."
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"America is an idea, but it's an idea that brings with it some baggage, like power brings responsibility. It's an idea that brings with it equality, but equality even though it's the highest calling, is the hardest to reach. The idea that anything is possible, that's one of the reasons why I'm a fan of America. It's like hey, look there's the moon up there, let's take a walk on it, bring back a piece of it. That's the kind of America that I'm a fan of."
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"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."
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"They enjoy thinking. They enjoy being creative. They enjoy having ideas. Most people do not enjoy thinking at all."
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"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."
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"I think school is a place where thinking should be taught."
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"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?"
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"We do not make very full value of the opportunities provided by technology because we prefer critical to constructive thinking, argument to design."
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"Our existing thinking habits are excellent, just as the rear wheels of a motor car are excellent, but not enough."
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