I don't take on big things. What I do, pretty much, is make the big things small and the small things big.

Don't get involved in partial problems, but always take flight to where there is a free view over the whole single great problem, even if this view is still not a clear one.

Unlike presidential administrations, problems rarely have terminal dates.

When you stop thinking about something, the idea comes to you. It seems to work.

I get intrigued by a puzzle, and writing a book is the best way to solve it.

The nice thing about doing a crossword puzzle is, you know there is a solution.

I'm the kind of person, the moment I see issues, I tend to think about the solutions. And that's how my mind is trained.

We go in there and we work on altering those ideas and in many cases go in different directions.

If you can talk brilliantly about a problem, it can create the consoling illusion that it has been mastered.

The rule for effective governance is simple. It is one Ronald Reagan knew by heart. And one that he successfully employed with Social Security and the Cold War. When there is a problem, you fix it....

Use your imagination. Look around the kitchen and see what you can use.

An approximate answer to the right question is worth far more than a precise answer to the wrong one.

And I think if the president's made a mistake here, it's this laid-back kind of approach where he's waiting for someone else to solve the problem. Some people say it's a political strategy. No matter...

If somebody says you can't do something, find five ways to do it.

I like to think that since I was about 19, I have studied human decision-making and problem-solving.

When there's something we weren't prepared for on the football field, you have to be able to use your mind, be creative, communicate, get lined up and get ready to do the play, get ready to execute.

My view is that while you do occasionally have differences you ought to have a process where you can sit down and talk about things. How else do you solve problems?

There's a joke in economics about the drunk who loses his keys in the street but only looks for them under the lightposts. When asked why, he says, 'because that's where the light is.' That's the...

If you can get rid of the emotion and concentrate on the problem, you can solve the problem.

The one thing that makes me nuts is if there's a problem or something that I don't know about.

Many times it's not about saying, 'You shouldn't have done that, you shouldn't have done this.' Just get together with the team and we will solve it for you. Make a mistake? No problem, the team will...

You can solve problems, but the solutions don't always have to be elaborate or expensive.

It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem.

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.

We mostly feel fearful because we feel powerless. We feel powerless, I contend, because of a style of thinking that splits information in two poles that makes us lose all the operative information we...