Buckminster Fuller on thinking

When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.

Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not depend on us. We are not the only experiment.

If I ran a school, I’d give the average grade to the ones who gave me all the right answers, for being good parrots. I’d give the top grades to those who made a lot of mistakes and told me about them, and then told me what they learned from them.

Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.

Eleanor Roosevelt1884–1962

• Ideas

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Aristotle384–322 BC

• Education
• Ideas

He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.

Confucius551–479 BC

• Education