Quote

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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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
Vertical
Thinker
Says
Looking
Found
Lateral

More quotes by Edward de Bono

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The quality of our thinking will determine the quality of our future
Edward de Bono
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Complexity means distracted effort. Simplicity means focused effort.
Edward de Bono
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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.
Edward de Bono
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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.
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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What the joke displays is a switch in perception. This is important in changing the way we think.
Edward de Bono
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A good design is not a democratic consensus.
Edward de Bono
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Every valuable creative idea must always be logical in hindsight. If it were not, we would never be able to see its value.
Edward de Bono
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Complexity creates confusion, simplicity focus.
Edward de Bono
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I do a great deal of work with young children, and if you give a child a problem, he may come up with a highly original solution, because he doesn't have the established route to it.
Edward de Bono
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An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.
Edward de Bono
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Logic will never change emotion or perception.
Edward de Bono
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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.
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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Language is the biggest barrier to human progress because language is an encyclopedia of ignorance. Old perceptions are frozen into language and force us to look at the world in an old fashioned way.
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 purpose of science is not to analyze or describe but to make useful models of the world. A model is useful if it allows us to get use out of it.
Edward de Bono
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Maybe the social value of truth is as a destination - so long as we do not assume we have arrived there.
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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Teaching thinking for just five hours to unemployed youngsters increased employment 500 percent.
Edward de Bono