Philip K. Dick Quotes

My mother cared more about how you reasoned than about the conclusions you reached.

Get the habit of analysis - analysis will in time enable synthesis to become your habit of mind.

What I'm looking for in my interaction is critical thinking on the part of the person pitching to me.

I'm a games and theory kind of guy. I love puzzles, so it was fun dissecting Shakespeare's prose.

I can be collaborative, for instance, in situations where I go and study the artist's work before I start writing. Then I can at least try to write towards their style.

I always say I have a Socratic approach to most things that I do. I pummel people with questions, because I need to know what they're thinking, what they're trying to achieve, what they believe the final outcome is going to be.

Every problem can be solved as long as they use common sense and apply the right research and techniques.

Thinking - in particular abstract thinking, which most of us are introduced to through the study of mathematics and literature - helps us learn that we can become problem solvers.

I like to figure things out and solve problems.

The scientific mind does not so much provide the right answers as ask the right questions.

Intellectuals are good at seeing the big picture. But they are not so good at process.

I love meeting people and analysing their world. I like having a puzzle to solve. That's why I do so much work in advance. Even if it doesn't affect my performance in the end, I just find it so much more interesting if I've got as wide as possible an understanding of the material.

What I knew was I liked math and science, and I never wanted to memorize everything. I wanted to understand where it came from.

If you have an analytical bent like I do, going back to my days as a programmer, you like to ask questions.

I'm the kid that tried to take Latin in school because I felt if I could understand the root of everything, then I could understand why it worked. That was what took me into engineering. And the reason I stayed is, engineering teaches you to solve problems. It teaches you to think.

I listen to things that are popular and try to think about it in a mathematical way.

My favorite question is 'Why?' I think it can be really helpful - I also think it can be annoying to people at times; I'll admit that. But I really do try to understand why are we approaching it this way, does it makes sense, is this the right answer, why is it the right answer, are there other paths to getting there, could those be better.

I like thinking and being able to answer questions that are tough to answer. You have to try to figure out how to get a good answer and look intelligent.

Peyton's pretty good at figuring stuff out.

Without analysis, no synthesis.

I think you have to be left-brained, to a certain extent, to understand science. I can talk about it, but I can't do it.

It's strange how few of the world's great problems are solved by people who remember their algebra.

I think, though, that we need to be armed with the critical thinking skills that lawyers and scientists and journalists such as yourself have. We all need to have those as we make our way through the day. And they're not that hard to acquire.

In order to begin an analysis, there must already be a synthesis present in the mind.

The analytical power should not be confounded with simple ingenuity; for while the analyst is necessarily ingenious, the ingenious man is often remarkably incapable of analysis.