What are some wise quotes on how to improve my cognitive health?

Be open-minded

  1. It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle
  2. The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes. Winston Churchill
  3. Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats. Howard Aiken
  4. The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about. Wayne Dyer
  5. The world in general doesn’t know what to make of originality; it is startled out of its comfortable habits of thought, and its first reaction is one of anger. W. Somerset Maugham
  6. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer
  7. We should open ourselves to the impossible and embrace a psychology of possibility. Ellen Langer

Don’t be so certain you’re right

  1. Belief gets in the way of learning. Robert Heinlein
  2. Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. Mark Twain
  3. The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. Bertrand Russell
  4. It ain’t what you know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. Mark Twain
  5. Certainty is a cruel mindset. It hardens our minds against possibility. Ellen Langer

Value learning

  1. Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. Henry Ford
  2. No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance. Confucius
  3. Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous. Confucius
  4. The man who does not read books has no advantage over the man that can not read them. Mark Twain
  5. I don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures. . .I divide the world into the learners and the non-learners. Benjamin Barber
  6. Knowledge is proud she knows so much; wisdom is humble that she knows no more. William Cowper

Know when it’s time to change your mind

  1. Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes you have to give up the fight and walk away, and move on to something that’s more productive. Donald Trump
  2. Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. John Kenneth Galbraith
  3. The most successful businessman is the man who holds onto the old just as long as it is good, and grabs the new just as soon as it is better. Robert P. Vanderpoel
  4. When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir? John Maynard Keynes
  5. That which can be destroyed by the truth should be. P. C. Hodgell

Don’t fall for irrational thinking biases

  1. What we have learned to look for in a situation determines mostly what we see. Ellen Langer
  2. We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are. Anais Nin
  3. That which we desire most earnestly we believe most easily. Unknown
  4. Change is hard because people over-estimate the value of what they have — and under-estimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up. James Belasco and Ralph Stayer
  5. After living with their dysfunctional behavior for so many years, people become invested in defending their dysfunctions rather than changing them.Marshall Goldsmith
  6. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. Richard P.Feynman
  7. Correlation is not causation. Most statistics books

Learn from others—even when they’re criticizing you

  1. There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is imitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest. Confucius
  2. Fools learn from experience. Wise men learn from the experience of others. Otto von Bismarck
  3. In criticizing, the teacher is hoping to teach. That’s all. Bankei
  4. He who wrestles with us, strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skills. Our antagonist is our helper. Edmund Burke
  5. We find comfort among those who agree with us, and growth among those who don’t. Frank A. Clark

Think differently—imagine what isn’t

  1. Knowing what is and knowing what can be are not the same thing. Ellen Langer
  2. Rather than ask ‘How could that be?’ it makes just as much sense to ask ‘Why couldn’t it be so?’ Ellen Langer
  3. The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. Albert Einstein
  4. Some men see things as they are and say why–I dream things that never were and say why not. George Bernard Shaw
  5. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece. Ralph Charell
  6. We need people who can dream of things that never were. John F. Kennedy
  7. Cherish your vision and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements. Napoleon Hill

Be courageous about thinking differently

  1. Before the beginning of brilliance, there must be great chaos. Before a brilliant person begins something great, they must look foolish in the crowd. from I Ching written by Fu His
  2. There has to be this pioneer, the individual with the courage, the ambition to overcome the obstacles that always develop when one tries to do something worthwhile that is new and different. Alfred P. Sloan
  3. It is not easy to be a pioneer — but oh, it is fascinating! I would not trade one moment, even the worst moment, for all the riches in the world. Elizabeth Blackwell
  4. Whoever starts out toward the unknown must consent to venture alone. Andre Gide
  5. Only he who attempts the absurd is capable of achieving the impossible. Miguel Unamuno

Use smart problem-solving strategies

  1. What are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, forget what the stars foretell, avoid opinion, care not what the neighbours think. You pilot always into an unknown future. Facts are your only clue. Robert Heinlein
  2. Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do. Steve Jobs
  3. It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer. Albert Einstein
  4. Important achievements require a clear focus, all-out effort, and a bottomless trunk full of strategies. Carol Dweck
  5. If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself. Albert Einstein
  6. To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it answered. John Ruskin
  7. We all have times when we think more effectively, and times when we should not be thinking at all. Daniel Cohen
  8. The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. Linus Pauling
  9. Whoever best describes a problem is the one most likely to solve it. Dan Roam
  10. I not only use all the brains I have, but all that I can borrow. Woodrow Wilson
  11. No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. Voltaire
  12. Take calculated risks. That’s quite different from being rash. George S. Patton
  13. How do I know what I think until I hear what I say? E. M. Forster
  14. Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something. Robert Heinlein
  15. The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it’s the same problem you had last year. John Foster Dulles

Recognize learning is possible

  1. Just because some people can do something with little or no training, it doesn’t mean that others can’t do it (and sometimes do it even better) with training. Carol Dweck
  2. Ask ‘How will they learn best?’ not ‘Can they learn?’ Jaime Escalante (acclaimed teacher)
  3. What any person in the world can learn, almost all persons can learn, if provided with the appropriate prior and current conditions of learning. Benjamin Bloom

Use smart learning habits

  1. What gets measured gets managed. Peter Drucker
  2. However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. Winston Churchill
  3. No matter how expert you may be, well-designed checklists can improve outcomes. Steven Levitt
  4. The shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory. Unknown
  5. What did you learn today? What mistake did you make that taught you something? What did you try hard at today? Carol Dweck
  6. What can I learn from this [setback]? What will I do next time I’m in this situation? Carol Dweck
  7. Teaching is a wonderful way to learn. Carol Dweck
  8. You’re in charge of your mind. You can help it grow by using it in the right way. Carol Dweck
  9. When one teaches, two learn. Robert Heinlein
  10. To learn and not to do is really not to learn. To know and not do is really not to know. Stephen Covey
  11. You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions. Naguib Mahfouz

Practice a healthy lifestyle

  1. What’s good for our heart is good for our brain. Well-known medical saying
  2. The brain is the “use it or lose it” organ. Frank Longo