Edward de Bono Quotes

I enjoy the debate... I haven't met a single person in Congress yet that I dislike. It's not about moderating your views: it's about being able to talk about them and defending them in a way that's uplifting to people.

I don't believe that we should never not talk to people we don't agree with politically. If you can make that person laugh, it's the first step to getting him to listen to change their mind.

I am completely in favour of dialogue and engagement. But it must be a true, open dialogue.

We need to in this country begin again to raise civil discourse to another level. I mean, we shout and scream and yell and get very little accomplished, but you can disagree very much with the next guy and still be friends and acquaintances.

I'm in the civil discourse business. I think it takes all kinds. And more power to everybody.

My stay-married secret would probably be exercising good communication, not when you have to but all the time. I think if you do that, you kinda just cleanse the situations, so there's not build up. I think that's probably the best way to do it.

We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another - until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.

The world I want to live in is a world where everybody is a bit more uncertain about their arguments and is a bit more open to other people's arguments. I think that we can engage ideas without ad hominem attacks.

Moral teaching should always be used as a gift and not a cudgel.... It is important that we all be able to share our moral viewpoints without hurting each other. That is what is wrong with political discourse today.

We can argue and we can disagree, but we don’t need to poke our fingers in each other’s eyes in order to get our points across.

When you don't talk down to your audience, then they can grow with you.

Whenever I think I'm going to get certain information out of a person, it's never as effective or comfortable as just having an open conversation, listening to them, being present, and being open to hearing something I didn't even know they were going to say.

Sometimes, we feel like we don't want to offend people, but there are times that we need to express ourselves without fear that somebody is going to shut us down simply because we have differing opinions. That's how we grow.

I think you can be in disagreement with a president you support without being disrespectful or nasty or snide.

'Free speech' isn't speech at all if it's being used without listening, attention, or care.

Even though I've had the odd terse word to say about Donald Trump, I still get invited to events at the U.S. embassy. I always attend, because as long as they're prepared to hear the opposite viewpoint, then I'll never miss that chance when I can.

You don't have to wait until people say they accept everything you say until you are actually prepared to sit down and discuss matters with them.

I've always believed that a lot of the trouble in the world would disappear if we were talking to each other instead of about each other.

Read deeply, not to believe, not to accept, not to contradict, but to learn to share in that one nature that writes and reads.

Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us. Sometimes after a meeting I want to arrange another one because new ideas are born and I discover new needs. This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas. The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good.

Real dialogue is where two or more people become willing to suspend their certainty in each other's presence.

Communication works for those who work at it.

Conversation is good - you might not agree with everyone, but at least it gives you a chance to contemplate someone else's ideas.

It's a terrible and tragic and counterproductive policy to avoid communicating with people who disagree with us.

When each expects the other to live in his or her world, to always be there to join in his or her chosen activities, an ego battle inevitably develops.