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
Time
Complex
Mental
Waste
Inefficient
Attention
Justification
Simple
Unnecessary
Energy
Complexity
Things
Dealing
Never
Complexes

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Logic will never change emotion or perception.
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Don't criticise a hypothesis, come up with a better one.
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If you do not design the future, someone or something else will design it for you.
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Creative thinking - in terms of idea creativity - is not a mystical talent. It is a skill that can be practised and nurtured.
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This is not about charity, it's about justice... The war against terror is bound up in the war against poverty - I didn't say that, Colin Powell said that . . .
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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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A characteristic of intuitive solutions and new ideas is that of being obvious once they are discovered.
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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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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.
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Complexity creates confusion, simplicity focus.
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Happiness is for those who don't really need it. So I can live without happiness.
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I think school is a place where thinking should be taught.
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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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Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations.
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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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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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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 know it aches, how your heart it breaks. You can only take so much. Walk on.
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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.
Edward de Bono