R. Buckminster Fuller Quotes

The biggest handicap in research is an ability to think outside the box. The handicap is being encumbered by all the conventional wisdom in a given field.

I don't think we ought to base our policy on what the conventional wisdom is.... The conventional wisdom usually is wrong.

Conventional wisdom is not always the best wisdom.

It's really important, whether you're a conservative or a liberal, to always challenge the conventional wisdom, which is what I've tried to do in all my work.

Mental fight means thinking against the current, not with it. It is our business to puncture gas bags and discover the seeds of truth.

I've always enjoyed doing challenging things and also challenging common wisdom.

I refused to accept anything, doubted everything. So, doubting everything, I had to find something that had not existed before, something I had not thought of before. Any idea that came to me, the thing would be to turn it around and try to see it with another set of senses.

To me, unconventional thinking is approaching a problem and asking, 'Why not? Why can't something be done?' If someone can't give me a good reason why you can't do something, I find a way to do it.

I simply think things through, and I look at problems. One thing I pride myself on is the ability to connect unconnected thoughts and come up with new, unique thoughts.

Wherever I see people doing something the way it's always been done, the way it's 'supposed' to be done, following the same old trends, well, that's just a big red flag to me to go look somewhere else.

When you're used to being prepared to reject conventional wisdom, it leaves you open to learn more.

Leadership requires that we challenge the conventional wisdom.

I can see there's a connection between not following normal thinking and doing creative thinking. I wouldn't have had good scientific ideas if I had thought more normally.

I always grew up with, 'Question authority.'

To be a contrarian, you've got to be a contrarian against your own people.

To take intellectual risks is to think about something that can't be done, that doesn't make any sense, and go for it responsibly.

Moneyball' doesn't have anything to do with on-base percentage or statistics. It's a constant investigation of stagnant systems, to see if you can find value where it isn't readily apparent.

I've always challenged myself and the people who work with me to take new approaches to traditional business challenges, to push the envelope and constantly ask whether our sacred cows are still producing great milk.

Mindless habitual behavior is the enemy of innovation.

It is especially important to encourage unorthodox thinking when the situation is critical: At such moments every new word and fresh thought is more precious than gold. Indeed, people must not be deprived of the right to think their own thoughts.

As entrepreneurs, we often get pressured into hiring an industry executive. While it's good to hire people with experience, it can also be a stumbling block because they think about the business the same way everyone else does.

In life, a lot of great ideas sound insane or absurd at first.

To design something really new and innovative you have to reject reason.

Rough work, iconoclasm, but the only way to get at truth.

What I often do is just think of a completely obtuse thing to do, almost the wrong thing to do. That often works because you start a different approach, something no one has tried.