Science is the search for truth – it is not a game in which one tries to beat his opponent, to do harm to others. We need to have the spirit of science in international affairs, to make the conduct of international affairs the effort to find t he right solution, the just solution of international problems, not the effort by each nation to get the better of other nations, to do harm to them when it is possible.
—Linus Pauling (1901–94) American Scientist, Peace Activist
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to treat everything as if it were a nail.
—Abraham Maslow (1908–70) American Psychologist, Academic, Humanist
Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.
—Denis Waitley (b.1933) American Motivational Speaker, Author
Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists.
—Edward de Bono (1933–2021) Maltese-British Psychologist, Writer
The man who has no more problems to solve is out of the game.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.
—Theodore Isaac Rubin (1923–2019) American Psychiatrist, Author
The only difference between a problem and a solution is that people understand the solution.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Some people approach every problem with an open mouth.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
You will only be remembered for two things: the problems you solve or the ones you create.
—Mike Murdock
If you can talk brilliantly about a problem, it can create the consoling illusion that it has been mastered.
—Stanley Kubrick (1928–99) American Film Director, Writer, Film Producer, Photographer
When the solution is simple, God is answering.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
All the greatest and most important problems of life are fundamentally insolvable. They can never be solved, but only outgrown.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
Make small commitments and keep them. Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
In the final analysis, the questions of why bad things happen to good people transmutes itself into some very different questions, no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it happened.
—Harold Kushner (b.1935) American Jewish Religious Leader, Priest
Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
The mere formulation of a problem is far more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skills. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The best way to escape from a problem is to solve it.
—Brendan Behan (1923–64) Irish Poet, Novelist, Playwright
The biggest problem in the world could have been solved when it was small.
—Witter Bynner (1881–1968) American Poet, Writer, Scholar
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Don’t find fault. Find a remedy.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
Again and again, the impossible problem is solved when we see that the problem is only a tough decision waiting to be made.
—Robert H. Schuller (1926–2015) American Christian Televangelist, Author
Whatever your problem, no matter how difficult, you can release spiritual power sufficient to solve your problem. The secret is—pray and believe.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
There are three ways you can get to the top of a tree: 1) sit on an acorn 2) make friends with a bird 3) climb it.
—Anonymous
A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
—Duke Ellington (1899–1974) American Jazz Pianist, Composer, Bandleader
It is wise to direct your anger towards problems—not people, to focus your energies on answers—not excuses.
—William Arthur Ward (1921–94) American Author
To solve any problem, here are three questions to ask yourself: First, what could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, who could I ask?
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Ah, mastery … what a profoundly satisfying feeling when one finally gets on top of a new set of skills … and then sees the light under the new door those skills can open, even as another door is closing.
—Gail Sheehy (1936–2020) American Writer, Journalist
I’m not convinced that the world is in any worse shape than it ever was. It’s just that in this age of almost instantaneous communication, we bear the weight of problems our forefathers only read about after they were solved.
—Burton Hillis (William E. Vaughan) (1915–77) American Columnist, Author
It is well known that “problem avoidance” is an important part of problem solving. Instead of solving the problem you go upstream and alter the system so that the problem does not occur in the first place.
—Edward de Bono (1933–2021) Maltese-British Psychologist, Writer
Problems are only opportunities in work clothes.
—Henry J. Kaiser (1882–1967) American Industrialist
Plurality should not be assumed without necessity.
—William of Ockham (1288–1347) English Philosopher, Theologian
Success is relevant to coping with obstacles… but no problem is ever solved by those, who, when they fail, look for someone to blame instead of something to do.
—Unknown
Our problems are man-made—therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be a s big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
Few can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem.
—Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) Indian Philosopher
If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the results.
—George S. Patton (1885–1945) American Military Leader
Our tendency to create heroes rarely jibes with the reality that most nontrivial problems require collective solutions.
—Warren Bennis (1925–2014) American Business Academic, Author
For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
It may seem to your conceited to suppose that you can do anything important toward improving the lot of mankind. But this is a fallacy. You must believe that you can help bring about a better world. A good society is produced only by good individuals, just as truly as a majority in a presidential election is produced by the votes of single electors. Everybody can do something toward creating in his own environment kindly feelings rather than anger, reasonableness rather than hysteria, happiness rather than misery.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic