Edward de Bono Quotes

Most people in business and within their personal lives move towards complexity. More To Dos. More projects. More products. More meetings. More possessions. More goals. The best - I suggest to you - move in the opposite direction.

My goal is to simplify complexity.

It is far more difficult to be simple than to be complicated.

Make everything as simple as possible but not simpler.

A simple life is not seeing how little we can get by with-that's poverty-but how efficiently we can put first things first. . . . When you're clear about your purpose and your priorities, you can painlessly discard whatever does not support these, whether it's clutter in your cabinets or commitments on your calendar. (148)

As soon as you are complicated, you are ineffectual.

Simplicity is not the absence of clutter.

Clarity proceeds Mastery!

Clarity breeds mastery.

I've spent my life trying to make things simpler. Because I find ultimately that complicated doesn't reach the heart.

The minute a thing is long and complicated, it confuses. Whoever wrote the Ten Commandments made 'em short. They may not always be kept, but they are understood.

I think there is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity; in clarity, in efficiency. True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation. It's about bringing order to complexity.

That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex.

Forget the complaints against complexity; instead, complain about confusion.

Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.

Less is more.

To be honest everything goes over my head a bit.

I'm quite an untidy person in a lot of ways. But order makes me happy. I have to have a clear desk and a tidy desktop, with as few visual distractions as possible. I don't mind sound distractions, but visual ones freak me out.

I never want to confuse people or go over their heads.

What I value in books is lucidity. I want the language to be rich; I love lexical fireworks on the page, but I have to know what it means. I want to be surprised and delighted, not merely baffled.

When you remove layers, simplicity and speed happen.

Concentrate, don't embroider.

I am a firm believer that if you can explain it to a kid, you're on the right track.

Let me explain what I do here. I don't want to confuse you any more than absolutely necessary.

Through your life, most people peel away the junk that's not useful, that's superfluous. You are determined to peel that away. I do one thing at a time. One man at a time. One car. One house. One child. One job.