Quotes about Insight

Maggot calmed me down by explaining Bible stories were a category of superhero comics.

We must look at the lens through we see the world, as well as the world we see, and that the lens itself shapes how we interpret the world.

Principles are the simplicity on the far side of complexity.

Just listen and seek to understand.

Writing crystallizes thinking and distills meaning, and bridges the gap between the conscious and the unconscious.

Maturity is the balance between courage and consideration.

I am convinced we will discover and rediscover the truth of T. S. Eliot's observation: We must not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time.

The purpose of teaching is learning and learning is changed behavior.

We have such a tendency to rush in, to fix things up with good advice. But we often fail to take the time to diagnose, to really, deeply understand the problem first. If I were to summarize in one sentence the single most important principle I have learned in the field of interpersonal relations, it would be this: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. This principle is the key to effective interpersonal communication.

Seek first to understand. Before the problems come up, before you try to evaluate and prescribe, before you try to present your own ideas—seek to understand.

came into focus. Through continued calm, respectful, and specific communication, each of us in the room was finally able to see the other point of view. But when we looked away and then back, most of us would immediately see the image we had been conditioned to see in the ten-second period of time. I frequently use this perception demonstration in working with people and organizations because

Although it's risky and hard, seek first to understand, or diagnose before you prescribe, is a correct principle manifest in many areas of life. It's the mark of all true professionals. It's critical for the optometrist, it's critical for the physician. You wouldn't have any confidence in a doctor's prescription unless you had confidence in the diagnosis.