“My thinking was taught to tribes in South Africa like the Zulus and Xhosas. At the time there were about 210 fights breaking out among them every month, but after they listened to my lessons, this fell to just four.”

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

Effectiveness without values is a tool without a purpose.

Companies that solely focus on competition will ultimately die. Those that focus on value creation will thrive.

You can’t dig a different hole by digging the same one deeper.

When the story of these times gets written, we want it to say that we did all we could, and it was more than anyone could have imagined.

Man owes his success to his creativity. No one doubts the need for it. It is most useful in good times and essential in bad.

Creativity is a great motivator because it mades people interested in what they are doing.

Our existing thinking habits are excellent, just as the rear wheels of a motor car are excellent, but not enough.

I’m a very loyal and unreliable friend.

On trade, our hypocrisy is at its most appalling. Trade reform isn’t about charity, it’s about justice, and this campaign, Trade Justice is an unstoppable idea.

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.

To develop thinking as a skill, it should be deliberate, focused, confident, and enjoyable.

Humor is probably the most significant characteristics of the human mind. Far more significant than reason. In fact, reason is actually a very cheap commodity.

The power of a car is separate from the way the car is driven.

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

They enjoy thinking. They enjoy being creative. They enjoy having ideas. Most people do not enjoy thinking at all.

….there is a difference between hearing and listening. You can’t always help what you hear. But you can control what holds your interest, what you choose to dwell on.

To do my job well, I have to be a good listener. The listening is so much more important than the talking.

Listening is one of the lesser-known skills that mistresses offer.

I’ve got to start listening to those quiet, nagging doubts.

John Kricfalusi is very talented; he used to really piss me off. But I did good work, you know? The Ren & Stimpy show without me was totally unsuccessful.

Listeners are kind of ambushed… if a poem just happens to be said when they’re listening to the radio. The listener doesn’t have time to deploy what I call their ‘poetry deflector shields’ that were installed in high school – there’s little time to resist the poem.

I grew up listening to the quartets and I loved that so much that I wanted to see if I could make music and make it happen. It was just a series of events … me going to concerts and saying “I think I can do that”.

I get embarrassed listening to my last CDs. I’ve got a lot of work to do, let’s put it that way.