Neil deGrasse Tyson Quotes

Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.

Many highly intelligent people are poor thinkers. Many people of average intelligence are skilled thinkers. The power of a car is separate from the way the car is driven.

Thinking is one of the most important weapons in dealing with problems

Most people do not actually know how to think for themselves, and unfortunately that prevents them from even knowing it.

Think your own thoughts.

I'm raised to actually think, to use my brain.

Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.

My parents encouraged thought. You'll get through life better if you learn how to think.

To me, the thing that sets us apart from so many other animal species is our ability to ask questions, investigate, gather information, come to our own conclusions, and sometimes depart from the pack, sometimes move away from the tribe.

As the prerogative of Natural Science is to cultivate a taste for observation, so that of Mathematics is, almost from the starting point, to stimulate the faculty of invention.

Information cannot serve as an effective substitute for thinking.

Knowing a great deal is not the same as being smart; intelligence is not information alone but also judgement, the manner in which information is coordinated and used.

Think deeply about things. Don’t just go along because that’s the way things are or that’s what your friends say. Consider the effects, consider the alternatives, but most importantly, just think.

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.

Don't let them fool ya, or even try to school ya! Oh, no! We've got a mind of our own, so go to hell if what you're thinking is not right!

Solve problems, make art, think deeply.

A research problem is not solved by apparatus; it is solved in a man's head.

Learn to use your brain power. Critical thinking is the key to creative problem solving in business.

Teaching for creativity aims to encourage self-confidence, independence of mind, and the capacity to think for oneself.

People who are able to do their own thinking should not allow others to do it for them.

It is not so very important for a person to learn facts. For that he does not really need a college. He can learn them from books. The value of an education in a liberal arts college is not learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks.

It must be remembered that the purpose of education is not to fill the minds of students with facts... it is to teach them to think.

Learn to do your own thinking - don’t let other people do it for you!

A Vulgar Mechanick can practice what he has been taught or seen done, but if he is in an error he knows not how to find it out and correct it, and if you put him out of his road he is at a stand. Whereas he that is able to reason nimbly and judiciously about figure, force, and motion, is never at rest till he gets over every rub. (from a letter dated 25 May, 1694)

Today much of what we call education is merely knowledge gathering and remembering. Problem solving and thinking, never strong parts of our educational system, have been downgraded in all but a few scientific subjects.