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
Some people drift along like a cork on a river, feeling that they cannot do anything except drift, moment to moment. This is an attitude of mind. Everyone can be constructive even in tiny ways.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that individuals often feel powerless, but everyone has the ability to contribute in meaningful ways.
Edward De Bono's quote highlights a common mindset where people feel as if they are just passively drifting through life, much like a cork floats aimlessly on a river. However, the essence of the statement is that this feeling is a mere attitude of mind. It encourages the belief that regardless of the circumstances, every person has the potential to be constructive, even in small actions, thus promoting the idea that one can positively influence their surroundings and take charge of their life.
Themes
ConstructiveAttitudeActionMindsetLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about taking control of your life.
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
Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times.
Saint AugustineRead
Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together. Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
Lord ActonRead
It's hard to know whether to laugh or to cry at the human predicament. Here we are with so much wisdom and tenderness, and—without even knowing it—we cover it over to protect ourselves from insecurity. Although we have the potential to experience the freedom of a butterfly, we mysteriously prefer the small and fearful cocoon of ego.
Pema ChodronRead
If you look at 'The Have and the Have Nots,' I didn't want to write a show where everyone is great and wonderful and perfect. I wanted to write it so that you're not really sure who the haves are. You look at Hanna, and you see that she doesn't have much, but she has great faith.
Tyler PerryRead
Let no one mistake it for comedy, farcical though it may be in all its details. It serves notice on the country that Neanderthal man is organizing in these forlorn backwaters of the land, led by a fanatic, rid of sense and devoid of conscience.
H. L. MenckenRead
If I were a dictator, religion and state would be separate. I swear by my religion. I will die for it. But it is my personal affair. The state has nothing to do with it. The state would look after your secular welfare, health, communications, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody's personal concern!
Mahatma GandhiRead