Quote

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

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Edward de Bono
Age: 88 †
Born: 1933
Born: May 19
Died: 2021
Died: June 9
Philosopher
Physician
Psychologist
University Teacher
Republic of Malta
Edward Charles Francis Publius de Bono
Simple
Unnecessary
Energy
Complexity
Things
Dealing
Never
Complexes
Time
Complex
Mental
Waste
Inefficient
Attention
Justification

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You can analyse the past, but you need to design the future. That is the difference between suffering the future and enjoying it.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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It's always amazed me how little attention philosophers, psychologists, or anyone else actually has paid to humor.
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Complexity means distracted effort. Simplicity means focused effort.
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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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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.
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A discussion should be a genuine attempt to explore a subject rather than a battle between competing egos.
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Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations.
Edward de Bono
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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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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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The vertical thinker says: 'I know what I am looking for.' The lateral thinker says: 'I am looking but I won't know what I am looking for until I have found it.'
Edward de Bono
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Do we have the will to make poverty history?
Edward de Bono
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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.
Edward de Bono
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It's not enough to rage against the lie.. you've got to replace it with the truth.
Edward de Bono
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You cannot look in a new direction by looking harder in the same direction.
Edward de Bono
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I know it aches, how your heart it breaks. You can only take so much. Walk on.
Edward de Bono
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If you never change your mind, why have one?
Edward de Bono
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Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting.
Edward de Bono