
Source: Lateral Thinking : Creativity Step by Step (1970), p. 5; Preface
Source: Lateral Thinking : Creativity Step by Step (1970), p. 5; Preface
University of Colorado Leeds School of Business Commencement Address (2013)
Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 1987, p. 377
Induction and Analogy in Mathematics (1954)
Context: The efficient use of plausible reasoning is a practical skill and it is learned... by imitation and practice.... what I can offer are only examples for imitation and opportunity for practice.
Speech to the Western Society of Engineers (18 September 1901); published in the Journal of the Western Society of Engineers (December 1901); republished with revisions by the author for the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution (1902) http://invention.psychology.msstate.edu/i/Wrights/library/Aeronautical.html
Context: The person who merely watches the flight of a bird gathers the impression that the bird has nothing to think of but the flapping of its wings. As a matter of fact this is a very small part of its mental labor. To even mention all the things the bird must constantly keep in mind in order to fly securely through the air would take a considerable part of the evening. If I take this piece of paper, and after placing it parallel with the ground, quickly let it fall, it will not settle steadily down as a staid, sensible piece of paper ought to do, but it insists on contravening every recognized rule of decorum, turning over and darting hither and thither in the most erratic manner, much after the style of an untrained horse. Yet this is the style of steed that men must learn to manage before flying can become an everyday sport. The bird has learned this art of equilibrium, and learned it so thoroughly that its skill is not apparent to our sight. We only learn to appreciate it when we try to imitate it.
Source: Father and Child Reunion (2001), p. 236.
“…in his fingers he has more skill than any of the rest of us.”
Rubinstein remarking on a performance by Maurizio Pollini — reported in Joanne Sheehy Hoover (March 13, 1981) "Captain Of the Keyboard", The Washington Post, p. C1.
Attributed