There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.
Edward De BonoRead
One very important aspect of motivation is the willingness to stop and to look at things that no one else has bothered to look at. This simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the value of curiosity and observation in fostering creativity.
Edward De Bono highlights that true motivation requires the ability to stop and observe aspects of life that often go unnoticed. By paying attention to the commonplace and mundane, one can unlock a reservoir of creativity that can lead to original ideas and innovative solutions.
Themes
MotivationCreativityObservationCuriosity
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a creativity workshop might use this quote to inspire attendees to embrace their unique perspectives.
More from Edward De Bono
All quotes →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.
Edward De BonoRead
As competition intensifies, the need for creative thinking increases. It is no longer enough to do the same thing better . . . no longer enough to be efficient and solve problems.
Edward De BonoRead
Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic.
Edward De BonoRead
(...) being right all the time acquires a huge importance in education, and there is this terror of being wrong. The ego is so tied to being right that later on in life you are reluctant to accept that you are ever wrong, because you are defending not the idea but your self-esteem. (...) this terror of being wrong means that people have enormous difficulties in changing ideas.
Edward De BonoRead
Argument is meant to reveal the truth, not to create it.
Edward De BonoRead
Similar quotes
Doubt not, O poet, but persist. Say 'It is in me, and shall out.' Stand there, balked and dumb, stuttering and stammering, hissed and hooted, stand and strive, until at last rage draw out of thee that dream-power which every night shows thee is thine own; a power transcending all limit and privacy, and by virtue of which a man is the conductor of the whole river of electricity.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Failure is built into creativity... the creative act involves this element of 'newness' and 'experimentalism,' then one must expect and accept the possibility of failure.
Saul BassRead
It often feels like a tremendous amount of work is required to get an idea moving forward, like pushing a train uphill. But at a certain point, the thing takes on its own momentum, and takes unexpected turns. So it's that feeling of holding on, rather than pushing it, that is the most exciting thing. It's that need to occasionally bounce off the walls, letting anything happen for any reason, and having nothing to guide you that is the joy.
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Creativity means to push open the heavy, groaning doorway to life.
Daisaku IkedaRead
That combination of thought and action defines creative confidence: the ability to come up with new ideas and the courage to try them out.
Tom KelleyRead
We are all creative, but by the time we are three of four years old, someone has knocked the creativity out of us. Some people shut up the kids who start to tell stories. Kids dance in their cribs, but someone will insist they sit still. By the time the creative people are ten or twelve, they want to be like everyone else.
Maya AngelouRead