Lateral thinking quotes

A collection of quotes – some acquired and some created – along my creative writing journey

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The following are original lateral thinking and creative thinking quotes from Michael Muxworthy

Philosophical …

‘Life’s great purpose is to evolve. 

‘It is our capacity for creativity that makes human evolution so exceptional.’

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‘If you were to design a universe to be everything it could be, central to that design would be chaos and randomness that forever finds new and original ways to combine things.’

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‘If science and religion BOTH genuinely seek the truth, eventually they MUST agree.’

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‘Life is all about pattern recognition and development. It’s how we survive and evolve.’

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The nature of disruptive creativity …

‘Sometimes, lateral thinking is about taking a situation you aren’t happy with … and changing it.’

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‘The accomplished lateral thinker questions everything.’

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‘Where others see conflict, lateral thinkers see opportunity.’

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‘Creativity reliably enhances outcomes, sometimes in the most unexpected ways.’

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‘When we ask “Why?”, we are often asking the more specific question … “Is this the only way to do something?” It is the easiest creative thinking ‘good’ habit I know.’

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‘Take the time to get to know people. It’s amazing the combinations you’ll find that lead to friendships, opportunities, problem solving, and much more. The more diverse your inputs are, the greater the opportunity for new and original combinations.’

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‘Never give up, just keep pushing forward with absolute confidence and passion knowing that for those that follow the differentiated path … there are no limits, just possibilities.’

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‘Lateral thinking is the DELIBERATE breaking of the shackles that inhibit creative and original thinking.’

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For the entrepreneurial/pioneer spirit …

‘When the experts tell you that you won’t succeed, wear it proudly like a badge of honor. All they’re doing is confirming that they have their blinkers on, and that you’ve chosen to differentiate rather than compete.’

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‘Competition reduces profits, so try to differentiate instead.’

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‘If your starting strategy is to compete with the experts, brace yourself for marginal results and/or failure.’

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‘Find something special in your life that drives you passionately and imagine where it could take you. When you’re driven by passion, there are no limits. Your exceptional goals in life should revolve around your passions.’

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‘When you find that something special that you’re passionate about, take the leap of faith. Trust your instincts and defy the experts.

‘As you immerse yourself in your new venture, try not to become an expert. Instead, gain knowledge and experience only up to a point that you recognize and appreciate talent. Gather the experts under you and allow them to do what they do best. Experts will serve you well as the cogs of your machinery, and they are useful. However, it is you who must steer a differentiated course. Never allow the experts to automatically steer you on their proven pathway that competes.

‘If you find yourself becoming bogged down as an expert, don’t make the mistake of becoming a cog in the machinery. It’s an opportunity to move on to your next passion.’

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Economics …

‘Let the market rule, but with a tempered safety net that reflects our evolved humanity.’

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Lateral thinking and creative thinking quotes that have inspired me on my creative writing journey:

‘Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.’

– Suzy Kassem

‘A concept is a brick. It can be used to build a courthouse of reason. Or it can be thrown through the window.’

– Gilles Deleuze, A Thousand Plateaus – Capitalism and Schizophrenia

‘If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door’

– Milton Berle

‘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 Bono

‘You create your own universe as you go along’

– Winston Churchill

‘For those who believe, no proof is necessary.

For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.’

– Stuart Chase

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Check out the concise definition: What is lateral thinking?

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‘All that we are is the result of what we have thought’

– Buddha

‘It is not enough to have a good mind, the main thing is to use it well’

– Rene Descartes

‘Creative thinking is not a talent, it is a skill that can be learnt. It empowers people by adding strength to their natural abilities which improves teamwork, productivity and where appropriate profits’

– Edward de Bono

‘I’m sure everyone from Thomas Edison to Gertrude Stein doubted their dreams from time-to-time, but the difference is they didn’t let it knock them off-course.’

– Richard Branson

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Lateral thinking creativity … can be easily learned!

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‘Whatever the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve’

– W. Clement Stone

‘No matter how old you get, if you can keep the desire to be creative, you’re keeping the man-child alive’

– John Cassavetes

‘Imagination is the living power and prime agent of all human perception’

– Samuel Taylor Coleridge

 ‘When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.’

 – Mary Kay Ash

‘To some people, independent thought is heresy and critical thought blasphemy’

– Rassool Jibraeel Synman

 ‘If you really want something, you can figure out how to make it happen’

– Cher

‘No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered with a searching but at the same time steady eye’

– Winston Churchill

What is “lateral thinking”?

• Check out the DEFINITIONS of some great creative thinkers. Click here

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‘Life is “trying things to see if they work’

– Ray Bradbury

‘Impossible Is Where Logical Thinking Ends and Creative Thinking Begins’

– Wayne D. Russell

‘To cultivate a pleasure in being wrong sounds perverse, yet losing an argument means escaping from an old idea and the acquisition of a new way of looking at things’

– Edward de Bono

‘I’m not young enough to know everything’

– J.M. Barrie

‘The sorcery and charm of imagination, and the power it gives to the individual to transform his world into a new world of order and delight, makes it one of the most treasured of all human capacities’

– Frank Baron

‘Whether you think you can or you can’t, either way, you are right’

– Henry Ford

‘What is now proved was once only imagined’

– William Blake

‘A discussion should be a genuine attempt to explore a subject rather than a battle between competing egos’

– How to have a Beautiful Mind, Edward de Bono

‘All power is from within and is therefore under our own control’

– Rober Collier

‘Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up’

– Pablo Picasso

‘Everyone has the right to doubt everything as often as he pleases and the duty to do it at least once. No way of looking at things is too sacred to be reconsidered. No way of doing things is beyond improvement’

– The Use of Lateral Thinking, Edward de Bono

‘Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it’

– Salvador Dali

‘You are the only one that creates your reality’

– Unknown

‘You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club’

– Jack London

‘Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will’

– George Bernard Shaw

‘It 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 Bono

‘Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try’

– Dr. Seuss

‘Instead of waiting for our attention to be pulled towards something unusual, we can set out frameworks for ‘directing’ our attention in a conscious manner’

– Six Frames – Edward de Bono

‘Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas’

– Donatella Versace

‘There may be more danger in prejudices which are apparently founded in logic than in those which are acknowledged as emotions’

– Six Thinking Hats, Edward de Bono

‘Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things’

– Ray Bradbury

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

– Edward de Bono

‘Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, the just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while’

– Steve Jobs

‘To cultivate a pleasure in being wrong sounds perverse, yet losing an argument means escaping from an old idea and the acquisition of a new way of looking at things’

– Lateral Thinking: An Introduction, Edward de Bono

‘Creativity is a drug I cannot live without’

– Cecil B. DeMille

‘When the positive revolution takes hold it will no longer be enough for politicians to gain points through attack or being negative. Politicians will be expected to be constructive’

– Handbook for the Positive Revolution, Edwarde de Bono

 ‘You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not’?’

– George Bernard Shaw

‘If you understand the system you can design appropriate action’

– Think! Before It’s Too Late, Edward de Bono

‘Creativity is contagious, pass it on’

– Albert Einstein

‘Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls’

– Joseph Campbell

‘Many highly intelligent people are poor thinkers. Many people of average intelligence are skilled thinkers. The power of the car is separate from the way the car is driven’

– Edward de Bono

‘It’s impossible to explain creativity. It’s like asking a bird, ‘How do you fly?’ You just do’

– Eric Jerome Dickey

‘The simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity’

– Edward de Bono

‘It’s impossible to explain creativity. It’s like asking a bird, ‘How do you fly?’ You just do’

– Ken Robinson

‘An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea’

– Edward de Bono

 ‘Negativity is the enemy of creativity’

– David Lynch

‘A question is a polite way of demanding something’

– How To Have A Beautiful Mind, Edward de Bono

‘Make an empty space in any corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it’

– Dee Hock

‘The need to be right all the time is the biggest bar to new ideas. It 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 Bono

 ‘There is no innovation or creativity without failure. Period!’

– Brene Brown

‘In 80% of Socrates’ dialogues there was no constructive outcome. He saw his role as simply pointing out what was wrong’

– Edward de Bono

‘The heart and sole of the company is creativity and innovation’

– Bob Iger

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

– Edward de Bono

‘Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties’

– Erich Fromm

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

– Edward de Bono

‘Creativity is habit and the best creativity is the result of work habits’

– Twyla Tharp

This selection of inspirational lateral thinking and creative quotes comes to you from the desk of:

– Michael John Muxworthy – Lateral Thinking Author

Lateral thinking disruptive creativity – Live your dreams

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