A characteristic of intuitive solutions and new ideas is that of being obvious once they are discovered.
Edward de BonoThe music that really turns me on is either running toward God or away from God. Both recognize the pivot, that God is at the center of the jaunt.
Edward de BonoThe system will always be defended by those countless people who have enough intellect to defend but not quite enough to innovate.
Edward de BonoSometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists.
Edward de BonoYou do not go out into the street in your underwear, although usually you are wearing underwear. The underwear is not visible but it is there all the time. It is the same with concepts. They are there. They underlie practical things we do- even when we are not conscious of them.
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 Bono