I was 7 years old when my grandfather died. That was the first time in my short life that I had come into contact with death. The questions came swirling in – what does death mean? Where did my grandfather go? His body’s still here, so why wasn’t he? What’s it like “up there” without a body? Where is “up there?” These were big questions for a small mind.
Over the years, I read a lot, wrote in my journal a lot – asked questions a lot. Is God real? Why do bad things happen to good people? Am I fated to a certain destiny or do I truly have free will to make my own choices in life?
Strangely enough, I still don’t have solid answers for any of those questions, but what I’ve realized is that as I grow older, and as I’m hopefully getting wiser, my answers seem to change and get wiser too; I’m realizing that it’s more important to ask a question than to rush to answer it.
Here are 36 wise souls who agree there’s wisdom in asking questions!
- “It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” – Eugene Ionesco
- “Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.” – Euripedes
- “The key to wisdom is this – constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question, by questioning we arrive at the truth.” – Peter Abelard
- “The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.” -Joseph Campbell
- “The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing.“ – Socrates
- “A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.” – Bruce Lee
- “[…] The art of proposing a question must be held of higher value than solving it.” – Georg Cantor
- “I questioned God’s silence. I don’t have an answer for that. Does it mean that I stopped having faith? No, I have faith, but I question it.” Elie Wiesel
- “It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settling a question without debating it.” – Joseph Joubert
- “The best scientists and explorers have the attributes of kids! They ask questions and have a sense of wonder. They have curiosity. ‘Who, what, where, why, when and how!’ They never stop asking questions, and I never stop asking questions, just like a five year old.” – Sylvia Earle
- “A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?” – Albert Einstein
- “I think that probably the most important thing about our education was that it taught us to question even those things we thought we knew.” – Thabo Mbeki
- “A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.” – Francis Bacon
- “Question everything. Every stripe, every star, every word spoken. Everything.” – Ernest Gaines
- “Question with boldness even the existence of God; because if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.” – Thomas Jefferson
- “Fear is a question. What are you afraid of and why? Our fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if we explore them.” – Marilyn French
- “The marvelous thing about a good question is that it shapes our identity as much by the asking as it does by the answering.” – David Whyte
- “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
- “My investment of time, as an educator, in my judgment, is best served teaching people how to think about the world around them. Teach them how to pose a question. How to judge whether one thing is true versus the other.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson
- He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.” – Voltaire
- “Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt.” – Paul Tillich
- “The greatest gift is not being afraid to question.” – Ruby Dee
- “In all my affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.” – Bertrand Russell
- “If you do not know how to ask the right question, you discover nothing.” – W. Edwards Deming
- “That is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer.” – Jacob Bronowski
- “A wise man’s question contains half the answer.” – Solomon Ibn Gabirol
- “Every man ought to be inquisitive through every hour of his great adventure down to the day when he shall no longer cast a shadow in the sun. For if he dies without a question in his heart, what excuse is there for his continuance?” – Frank Moore Colby
- “We get wise by asking questions, and even if these are not answered, we get wise, for a well-packed question carries its answer on its back as a snail carries its shell.” – James Stephens
- “Whence come I and whither go I? That is the great unfathomable question, the same for every one of us. Science has no answer to it.” – Max Planck
- “Learn avidly. Question repeatedly what you have learned. Analyze it carefully. Then put what you have learned into practice intelligently.” – Edward Cocker
- “A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.” – John Ciardi
- “Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.” – E. E. Cummings
- “Life is an unanswered question, but let’s still believe in the dignity and importance of the question.” – Tennessee Williams
- “We want to answer this classical question, who am I? So I think that most of our works are for art, or whatever we do, including science or religion, tried to answer that question.” – Paulo Coelho
- “It is not enough for me to ask the question; I want to know how to answer the one question that seems to encompass everything I face: What am I here for?” – Abraham Joshua-Heschel
And my personal favorite:
36. “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, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
Featured photo credit: Jake Ingle via unsplash.com
