quotations about questions
The only stupid question is the one that is not asked.
SAM HO
Operations and Quality Management
For a long time I was timid in the presence in learning, and I fancied that the insufficiency of the answers which I received was not its fault, but was owing to my own gross ignorance, but this thing was not a joke or a pastime with me, but the business of my life, and I was at last forced, willy-nilly, to the conclusion that these questions of mine were the only legitimate questions underlying all knowledge, and that it was not I that was in fault in putting them, but science in pretending to have an answer for them.
LEO TOLSTOY
A Confession
No man becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions.
CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ
attributed, The American Magazine, Volume 95, 1923
Let a man be never ashamed to put a question to a teacher when something is not well understood.
RABBI ELIAZAR
attributed, Day's Collacon
A good question is, of course, the key by which infinite answers can be educed.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Foundation's Edge
Philosophy means to be on the way. Its questions are more essential than its answers, and every answer becomes a new question.
KARL JASPERS
Way to Wisdom
No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
Our Theatres in the Nineties
The most important questions in life can never be answered by anyone except oneself.
JOHN FOWLES
The Magus
Broken words came first, then half-uttered questions and answers, followed by sighs, tears, and groans.
VOLTAIRE
Candide
A fundamental American question is, "What's the big idea?"
P. J. O'ROURKE
Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism
A civil question deserves a civil answer.
MARTIN H. MANSER
The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs
It's the questions we ask, the journey we take to get to where we are going that is more important than the actual answer.
CHARLES DE LINT
"Paperjack", Dreams Underfoot: The Newford Collection
To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.
URSULA K. LE GUIN
The Left Hand of Darkness
There are questions so indiscreet, that they deserve neither truth nor falsehood in reply.
MADAME SWETCHINE
"Airelles", The Writings of Madame Swetchine
Some questions cannot be answered.
They become familiar weights in the hand,
round stones pulled from the pocket,
unyielding and cool.
JANE HIRSHFIELD
"Woman in Red Coat"
There are these four ways of answering questions. Which four? There are questions that should be answered categorically [straightforwardly yes, no, this, that]. There are questions that should be answered with an analytical (qualified) answer [defining or redefining the terms]. There are questions that should be answered with a counter-question. There are questions that should be put aside. These are the four ways of answering questions.
GAUTAMA BUDDHA
Sutta Pitaka
Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787
It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.
EUGÈNE IONESCO
Découvertes
I wish that objections to questions as leading, might be a little better considered before they are made. It is necessary, to a certain extent, to lead the mind of the witness to the subject of inquiry. If questions are asked, to which the answer "Yes" or "No" would be conclusive, they would certainly be objectionable, but in general no objections are more frivolous than those which are made to questions as leading ones.
LORD ELLENBOROUGH
Nicholls v. Dowding and another, 1815
A good question can send you on a long journey in rain and cold. It can terrify, bringing you straight into your own fears, whether of heights or of loss or of all the mysteries that never go away--our own vulnerability, the heart's utter exposure, the capriciousness and fragility of events, of relationships, of existence.
JANE HIRSHFIELD
"Living by Questions", Oprah