Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations.
Edward de BonoRemoving the faults in a stage-coach may produce a perfect stage-coach, but it is unlikely to produce the first motor car.
Edward de BonoIt is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
Edward de BonoOne can think of a secretary actively operating a filing system, of a librarian actively cataloguing books, of a computer actively sorting out information. The mind however does not actively sort out information. The information sorts itself out and organises itself into patterns. The mind is passive. The mind only provides an opportunity for the information to behave in this way. The mind provides a special environment in which information can become self-organising. This special environment is a memory surface with special characteristics.
Edward de BonoAmerica is an idea, but it's an idea that brings with it some baggage, like power brings responsibility. It's an idea that brings with it equality, but equality even though it's the highest calling, is the hardest to reach. The idea that anything is possible, that's one of the reasons why I'm a fan of America. It's like hey, look there's the moon up there, let's take a walk on it, bring back a piece of it. That's the kind of America that I'm a fan of.
Edward de Bono