The creative individual has the capacity to free himself from the web of social pressures in which the rest of us are caught. He is capable of questioning the assumptions that the rest of us accept.
—John W. Gardner (1912–2002) American Activist
The only questions that really matter are the ones you ask yourself.
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
There are no right answers to wrong questions.
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
Certainly, Gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinions high respect; their business unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasure, his satisfactions, to theirs, and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own. But his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure, no, nor from the law and the Constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
It’s better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.
—James Thurber
Questions show the mind’s range, and answers its subtlety.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
I don’t pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are certainly worth thinking about.
—Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British Scientist, Science-fiction Writer
Question everything. Every stripe, every star, every word spoken. Everything.
—Ernest J. Gaines (1933–2019) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
A child can ask questions that a wise man cannot answer.
—Unknown
Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the question themselves, as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, some day far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
—Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian Poet
The questions that are beyond the reach of economics—the beauty, dignity, pleasure and durability of life—may be inconvenient but they are important.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
There aren’t any embarrassing questions—just embarrassing answers.
—Carl Rowan (1925–2000) American Public Servant, Journalist, Author, Columnist
The scientific mind does not so much provide the right answers as ask the right questions.
—Claude Levi-Strauss (1908–2009) French Social Anthropologist, Philosopher
Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.
—Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006) Egyptian Novelist
We have to remember that what we observe is not nature in itself but nature exposed to our method of questioning.
—Werner Heisenberg (1901–76) German Theoretical Physicist
The questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and become one’s key to the experience of others.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.
—Lloyd Alexander (1924–2007) American Writer of Fantasy Novels
To question a wise man is the beginning of wisdom.
—German Proverb
The moment we find the reason behind an emotion … the wall is breached, and the positive memories it has kept from us return too. That’s why it pays to ask those painful questions. The answers can set you free.
—Gloria Steinem (b.1934) American Feminist, Journalist, Social Activist, Political Activist
Clever people seem not to feel the natural pleasure of bewilderment, and are always answering questions when the chief relish of a life is to go on asking them.
—Frank Moore Colby (1865–1925) American Encyclopedia Editor, Essayist
The only interesting answers are those that destroy the questions.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
If you don’t like the question that’s asked, answer some other question.
—Howard Baker (1925–2014) American Lawyer, Politician
You don’t want a million answers as much as you want a few forever questions. The questions are diamonds you hold in the light. Study a lifetime and you see different colours from the same jewel. The same questions, asked again, bring you just the answers you need just the minute you need them.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
The power to question is the basis of all human progress.
—Indira Gandhi (1917–84) Indian Head of State
When we have arrived at the question, the answer is already near.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
There are no foolish questions, and no man becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions.
—Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865–1923) German-born American Mathematician, Engineer
When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness’ sake. But don’t make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, and evasion simply muddles ’em.
—Harper Lee (1926–2016) American Novelist
There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men, who talk in a road, according to the notions they have borrowed and the prejudices of their education.
—John Locke (1632–1704) English Philosopher, Physician
A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
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