Edward de Bono quotes - page 6

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)
We do not make very full value of the opportunities provided by technology because we prefer critical to constructive thinking, argument to design. View quote
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. View quote
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. View quote
Edward de Bono
Explaining belief has alwayas been difficult. How do you explain a love and a logic at the heart of the universe when the world is so out of whack? Explaining faith is impossible - vision over visibility - instinct over intellect - a songwriter plays a chore with the faith that he will hear the next one in his head. View quote
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. View quote
Edward de Bono
Although feelings are not supposed to intrude on business discussions, they do anyway - we just disguise them as logic. View quote
Edward de Bono
Philosophers may look out at the world from a stained-glass window, but after a while they stop looking at the world and start looking at the stained glass. View quote
Edward de Bono
With lateral thinking one goes on generating as many approaches as one can even after one has found a promising one. View quote
Edward de Bono
Lateral thinking... is the process of using information to bring about creativity and insight restructuring. View quote
Edward de Bono
As a result, design and perceptual thinking was never developed. (Edward de Bono)
Lateral thinking is closely related to insight, creativity and humour. View quote
Edward de Bono
At school the emphasis has traditionally always been on vertical thinking which is effective but incomplete. This selective type of thinking needs to be supplemented with the generative qualities of creative thinking. View quote
Edward de Bono
Rightness is what matters in vertical thinking. Richness is what matters in lateral thinking. View quote
Edward de Bono
You don't have to be intelligent, but I think you have to be open to possibilities and willing to explore. The only stupid people are those who are arrogant and closed off. View quote
Edward de Bono
It's always amazed me how little attention philosophers, psychologists, or anyone else actually has paid to humor. View quote
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. View quote
Edward de Bono
Rightness is what matters in vertical thinking. Richness is what matters in lateral thinking. Vertical thinking selects a pathway by excluding other pathways. Lateral thinking does not select but seeks to open up other pathways. With vertical thinking one selects the most promising approach to a problem, the best way of looking at a situation. With lateral thinking one generates as many alternative approaches as one can. View quote
Edward de Bono
There isn't just one point; it takes time to learn. You don't have to be intelligent, but I think you have to be open to possibilities and willing to explore. The only stupid people are those who are arrogant and closed off. View quote
Edward de Bono
The rejection process is incorporated in the concept of the negative. The negative is a judgement device. It is the means whereby one rejects certain arrangements of information. The negative is used to carry out judgement and to indicate rejection. The concept of the negative is crystallized into a definite language tool. This language tool consists of the words no and not. Once one learns the function and use of these words one has learned how to use logical thinking. The whole concept of logical thinking is concentrated in the use of this language tool. Logic could be said to be the management of NO. View quote
Edward de Bono
What happened was, 2,400 years ago, the Greek Gang of Three, by whom I mean Aristotle, Plato and Socrates, started to think based on analysis, judgment and knowledge. At the same time, church people, who ran the schools and universities, wanted logic to prove the heretics wrong. As a result, design and perceptual thinking was never developed. People assumed philosophers were doing it and so they blocked anyone else from doing it. But philosophers were not. Philosophers may look out at the world from a stained-glass window, but after a while they stop looking at the world and start looking at the stained glass. (Edward de Bono)