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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

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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
Little
Walks
Discussion
Everything
Answers
Certainty
Right
Opinion
Rational
Away
Argument
Littles
Possibility
Anything
Along
Persons
Walk
Backed
Person
Progress
Unlikely

More quotes by Edward de Bono

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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.
Edward de Bono
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I think there is a danger with young people of being dependent in the sense that they don't acquire any identity or self-image of themselves as thinkers.
Edward de Bono
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The simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity.
Edward de Bono
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They enjoy thinking. They enjoy being creative. They enjoy having ideas. Most people do not enjoy thinking at all.
Edward de Bono
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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.
Edward de Bono
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It has always surprised me how little attention philosophers have paid to humor, since it is a more significant process of mind than reason. Reason can only sort out perceptions, but the humor process is involved in changing them.
Edward de Bono
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If you do not design the future, someone or something else will design it for you.
Edward de Bono
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Mock the devil, and he will flee from thee.
Edward de Bono
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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.
Edward de Bono
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Only the human brain can deliberately change perceptions, change patterns, invent concepts and tolerate ambiguity.
Edward de Bono
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On trade, our hypocrisy is at its most appalling. Trade reform isn't about charity, it's about justice, and this campaign, Trade Justice is an unstoppable idea.
Edward de Bono
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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.
Edward de Bono
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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.
Edward de Bono
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The system will always be defended by those countless people who have enough intellect to defend but not quite enough to innovate.
Edward de Bono
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If you wait for opportunities to occur, you will be one of the crowd.
Edward de Bono
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If you never change your mind, why have one?
Edward de Bono
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Logic will never change emotion or perception.
Edward de Bono
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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.
Edward de Bono
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A characteristic of intuitive solutions and new ideas is that of being obvious once they are discovered.
Edward de Bono
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Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists.
Edward de Bono