EDWARD DE BONO

Humor is by far the most significant activity of the human brain.

A painter may be looking at the world in a way which is very different from everyone else. If he's a craftsman, he can get other people to see the world through his eyes, and so he enlarges our vision, perception, and there's great value in that.

Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic.

What the joke displays is a switch in perception. This is important in changing the way we think.

Humor is probably the most significant characteristics of the human mind. Far more significant than reason. In fact, reason is actually a very cheap commodity.

Teaching thinking for just five hours to unemployed youngsters increased employment 500 percent.

It's always amazed me how little attention philosophers, psychologists, or anyone else actually has paid to humor.

Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations.

In the future, instead of striving to be right at a 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.

Most executives, many scientists, and almost all business school graduates believe that if you analyze data, this will give you new ideas. Unfortunately, this belief is totally wrong. The mind can only see what it is prepared to see.

If you never change your mind, why have one?

Dealing with complexity is an inefficient and unnecessary waste of time, attention and mental energy. There is never any justification for things being complex when they could be simple.

People should realize we're jerks just like them.

To be successful you have to be lucky, or a little mad, or very talented, or find yourself in a rapid growth field.

We need creativity in order to break free from the temporary structures that have been set up by a particular sequence of experience.

Logic will never change emotion or perception.

I do a great deal of work with young children, and if you give a child a problem, he may come up with a highly original solution, because he doesn't have the established route to it.

The purpose of science is not to analyze or describe but to make useful models of the world. A model is useful if it allows us to get use out of it.

A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen.

Creativity is a great motivator because it makes people interested in what they are doing. Creativity gives hope that there can be a worthwhile idea. Creativity gives the possibility of some sort of achievement to everyone. Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting.

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.

My thinking was taught to tribes in South Africa like the Zulus and Xhosas. At the time there were about 210 fights breaking out among them every month, but after they listened to my lessons, this fell to just four.

It has always surprised me how little attention philosophers have paid to humor, since it is a more significant process of mind than reason. Reason can only sort out perceptions, but the humor process is involved in changing them.

I think school is a place where thinking should be taught.

I must say, I don't feel very qualified to be a pop star. I feel very awkward at times in the role.