Edward de Bono Quotes

Some people are aware of another sort of thinking which... leads to those simple ideas that are obvious only after they have been thought of... the term 'lateral thinking' has been coined to describe this orther sort of thinking; 'vertical thinking' is used to denote the conventional logical process.

The best way to get people to think outside the box is not to create the box in the first place.

You have to think outside the box.

The problem is not one of prediction. It is one of imagination.

To complicate things in new ways, that is really very easy; but to see things in new ways, that is difficult and that is why genius is so rare.

If everyone has to think outside the box, maybe it is the box that needs fixing.

It's always good to take an orthogonal view of something. It develops ideas.

The impossible - we are told - cannot be achieved. To overcome the 'impossible,' we need to use our wits and be fearless. We need to break the rules and to circumvent - some would one say to cheat.

The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a very creative mind to spot wrong questions.

Creativity is not just for artists. It's for businesspeople looking for a new way to close a sale; it's for engineers trying to solve a problem; it's for parents who want their children to see the world in more than one way.

Creativity is bound up in our ability to find new ways around old problems.

I know how to think outside of the box and be creative.

You know, when you look carefully at stuff that you deal with everyday, applying a little creativity to it and thinking outside the box, it's amazing what you can do.

The best creative solutions don't come from finding good answers to the questions that are presented... They come from inventing new questions!

Only creativity can see past problems to find solutions. This holds true for every area of life.

The essence of creativity is figuring out how to use what you already know in order to go beyond what you already think.

All the problems sitting there are an invitation for you to be creative, make use of your skills and resources and find a solution.

Solve problems, make art, think deeply.

A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way, but intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience.

With vertical thinking one may look for different approaches until one finds a promising one. With lateral thinking one goes on generating as many approaches as one can even after one has found a promising one. With vertical thinking one is trying to select the best approach but with lateral thinking one is generating different approaches for the sake of generating them.

When you are failing, you are forced to be creative, to dig deep and think, night and day.

If everyone is defining a problem or solving it one way and the results are subpar, this is the time to ask, What if I did the opposite? Don't follow a model that doesn't work. If the recipe sucks, it doesn't matter how good a cook you are.

Creativity is the ability to see and to respond.

Creativity and lateral thinking have exactly the same basis as humour.

I always thought problem solving was greatly overrated - and that the most important thing was problem creation.