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Edward de Bono Quotes

1933–2021 England

Edward Charles Francis Publius de Bono (19 May 1933, in Malta – 9 June 2021) was a British physician, author, inventor, and consultant. He was most famous as the originator of the term lateral thinking (structured creativity) and a leading proponent of the deliberate teaching of thinking in schools.

England
Philosophers
Physicians
Psychologists

Also known as: De Bono, Edward, Edward De Bono

Random Edward de Bono quote

26 quotes

Instead of striving to be right at high cost, it will be more appropriate to be flexible and plural at a lower cost. If you cannot accurately predict the future then you must flexibly be prepared to deal with various possible futures.

Serious Creativity: Using the Power of Lateral Thinking to Create New Ideas (1992)

Lateral thinking... is the process of using information to bring about creativity and insight restructuring. Lateral thinking can be learned, practised and used. It is possible to acquire skill in it just as it is possible to acquire skill in mathematics.

Lateral Thinking : Creativity Step by Step (1970)

Business has continued to be more interested in thinking, in general, than any other sector of society. The explanation for this is because there is a reality test. There is a bottom line. There are sales figures and profit figures. There are results.

There isn't just one point; it takes time to learn. You don't have to be intelligent, but I think you have to be open to possibilities and willing to explore. The only stupid people are those who are arrogant and closed off.

Iraq? They just need to think it through (2007)

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.

Lateral Thinking : Creativity Step by Step (1970)

I think there is a danger with young people of being dependent in the sense that they don't acquire any identity or self-image of themselves as thinkers. They just go and look it up or they just chat with someone. In other words, relying on something rather than saying: "Okay, I've got the information, how do I create value from it?"

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Edward de Bono (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.