Roger von Oech Quotes

• Remember the two benefits of failure. First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn't work; and second, the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach.

  Roger von Oech

  Business, Work, Failure

  54 Copy quote

• Take advantage of the ambiguity in the world. Look at something and think what else it might be.

  Roger von Oech

  Thinking, Looks, World

  21 Copy quote

• Life is like a maze in which you try to avoid the exit.

  Roger von Oech

  Inspirational, Life Is Like, Trying

  Roger Von Oech (2001). “Whack on the Side of the Head”, Mjf Books

  25 Copy quote

• Most people think of success and failure as opposites, but they both are products of the same process.

  Roger von Oech

  Thinking, Opposites, People

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• It's easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will soon be out-of-date.

  Roger von Oech

  Inspirational, Letting Go, Creativity

  Roger Von Oech (1986). “A Kick in the Seat of the Pants: Using Your Explorer, Artist, Judge, & Warrior to Be More Creative”, Harper Perennial

  12 Copy quote

• New ideas are not born in a conforming environment.

  Roger von Oech

  Ideas, Environment, Born

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• Most brilliance arises from ordinary people working together in extraordinary ways.

  Roger von Oech

  People, Working Together, Ordinary

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• By the time the average person finishes college, he or she will have taken over 2,600 tests, quizzes, and exams. The right answer approach becomes deeply ingrained in our thinking. This may be fine for some mathematical problems where there is in fact only one right answer. The difficulty is that most of life isn’t this way. Life is ambiguous; there are many right answers- all depending on what you’re looking for. But if you think there is only one right answer, then you’ll stop looking as soon as you find one.

  Roger von Oech

  Life, Taken, College

  14 Copy quote

• Look for the second right answer.

  Roger von Oech

  Looks, Answers, Right Answers

  Roger Von Oech (1986). “A Kick in the Seat of the Pants: Using Your Explorer, Artist, Judge, & Warrior to Be More Creative”, Harper Perennial

  4 Copy quote

• Everyone has a 'risk muscle.' You keep it in shape by trying new things. If you don't, it atrophies. Make a point of using it at least once a day.

  Roger von Oech

  Inspirational, Trying Something New, New Day

  Roger Von Oech (1986). “A Kick in the Seat of the Pants: Using Your Explorer, Artist, Judge, & Warrior to Be More Creative”, Harper Perennial

  24 Copy quote

• Going to a junkyard is a sobering experience. There you can see the ultimate destination of almost everything we desired.

  Roger von Oech

  Destination, Junkyard, Ultimate

  Roger Von Oech (2001). “Whack on the Side of the Head”, Mjf Books

  19 Copy quote

• If you fall in love with an idea, you won't see the merits of alternative approaches-and will probably miss an opportunity or two. One of life's great pleasures is letting go of a previously cherished idea. Then you're free to look for new ones. What part of your idea are you in love with? What would happen if you kissed it goodbye?

  Roger von Oech

  Letting Go, Goodbye, Falling In Love

  13 Copy quote

• If you don't execute your ideas, they die.

  Roger von Oech

  Ideas, Dies, Ifs

  10 Copy quote

• Flexibility is a requirement for survival.

  Roger von Oech

  Survival, Requirements, Flexibility

  Roger Von Oech (2001). “Whack on the Side of the Head”, Mjf Books

  8 Copy quote

• It's important for the explorer to be willing to be led astray.

  Roger von Oech

  Important, Exploration, Willing

  Roger Von Oech (1986). “A Kick in the Seat of the Pants: Using Your Explorer, Artist, Judge, & Warrior to Be More Creative”, Harper Perennial

  11 Copy quote

• We grow up thinking that the best answer is in someone else's brain. Much of our education is an elaborate game of 'guess what's in the teacher's head?' What the world really needs to know right now is what kind of dreams and ideas are in your head.

  Roger von Oech

  Dream, Teacher, Growing Up

  9 Copy quote

• Here's my advice: Go ahead and be whacky. Get into a crazy frame of mind and ask what's funny about what you're doing.

  Roger von Oech

  Crazy, Advice, Mind

  7 Copy quote

• If you make an error, use it as a stepping stone to a new idea you might not have otherwise discovered.

  Roger von Oech

  Errors, Ideas, Use

  8 Copy quote

• Knowledge is the stuff from which new ideas are made. Thus, the real key to being creative lies in what you do with your knowledge.

  Roger von Oech

  Real, Lying, Keys

  Roger Von Oech (2001). “Whack on the Side of the Head”, Mjf Books

  4 Copy quote

• The hallmark of creative people is their mental flexibility... Sometimes they are open and probing, at others they're playful and off-the-wall. At still other times, they're critical and faultfinding. And finally they're doggedly persistent in striving to reach their goals.

  Roger von Oech

  Wall, People, Goal

  Roger Von Oech (1986). “A Kick in the Seat of the Pants: Using Your Explorer, Artist, Judge, & Warrior to Be More Creative”, Harper Perennial

  8 Copy quote

• What excuses stand in your way? How can you eliminate them?

  Roger von Oech

  Way, Excuse

  11 Copy quote

• When everyone thinks alike, no one is doing very much thinking.

  Roger von Oech

  Thinking

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• There is a close relationship between the "ha-ha" of humor and the "aha!" of discovery.

  Roger von Oech

  Discovery, Close Relationship

  Roger Von Oech (2002). “Expect the Unexpected (or You Won't Find It): A Creativity Tool Based on the Ancient Wisdom of Heraclitus”, p.115, Berrett-Koehler Publishers

  5 Copy quote

• The worlds of thought and action overlap. What you think has a way of becoming true.

  Roger von Oech

  Thinking, Way, Becoming

  Roger Von Oech (2001). “Whack on the Side of the Head”, Mjf Books

  5 Copy quote

• Open your mind up to things that have no connection with the problem you're trying to solve: subscribe to an unusual magazine; spend a morning at an elementary school; go to work two hours early; test drive an exotic car; attend a city council meeting; ...try an Indonesian recipe.

  Roger von Oech

  Inspirational, Morning, School

  5 Copy quote

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