Theodosius Dobzhansky Quotes

Unfortunately, simplistic framing of problems leads to simplistic answers.

I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.

I think sometimes a part requires more than one approach or thought.

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.

One of the things Mr. Kennedy taught me was that in laying out a new project, you shouldn't try to cope with every little problem.

Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.

Guys are natural problem solvers - they like to have strategies.

Sometimes big problems are best solved with lots of small and creative solutions.

Solving big problems is easier than solving little problems.

If I can bring some light to bear on problems like that, I feel that people will be enlightened not only on the question but also on a way of approaching such questions.

I can usually find my own way out of whatever dicey literary or linguistic situations I wander into, but I have to work much harder at the science.

It must be able to assist in devising the method of solution of problems and not merely solve them.

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

Early on, in discussions of financial oversight, people would say, 'Well, this is a very complicated problem, therefore it requires a complicated solution.' And at that step, I would say, 'Well, wait a minute. Just because it's a complicated problem doesn't mean the best course of action immediately is one that's complicated.'

There is always an easy solution to every problem - neat, plausible, and wrong.

I like to figure things out and solve problems.

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

The advice I tell students is to think about the big problems. I mean, work on anything you can work on where you can make progress. But always keep in mind the big problems.

I have had my results for a long time: but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them.

The wise man doesn't give the right answers, he poses the right questions.

Posing good questions is harder than it might seem... It's hard because asking good questions requires you to see past the easy answers and to focus instead on the difficult, the tricky, the mysterious, the awkward, and sometimes the painful. ... Great leaders don't have all the answers, but they know how to ask the right questions - questions that force others and themselves to move past old and tired answers, questions that open up possibilities that, before the question, went unseen.

There is no silver bullet. I know people in Washington want grand solutions for everything.

It’s not very profitable to sit and think nowadays. So many problems, and they seem all to have such twists to them – nothing is straightforward.

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

I try to look at problems very clearly and think, 'How do we get out of this? What will work? What will be the consequences for the people involved?'