Quotes About Questioning

And generally let every student of nature take this as a rule: that whatever his mind seizes and dwells upon with peculiar satisfaction is to be held in suspicion, and that so much the more care is to be taken in dealing with such questions to keep the understanding even and clear.

Most critics are not well-equipped to defend their own faith. They have rarely thought through what they believe and have relied more on generalizations and slogans than on careful reflection. To expose their error, take your cue from Columbo. Scratch your head, rub your chin, pause for a moment, then say, "Do you mind if I ask you a question?

Has any historian sought to question why the wagonmaster of America's westward-bound pioneers 'circled' the wagons instead of 'squaring' or 'triangulating' them for a better defense strategy in fighting-off Indian raids on the plains:

Los dioses del hombre jamás han tenido otra cara que la del hombre mismo [...] si mi dios no existe ¿quién soy yo?

Do you want to know who you are? But if you don't know who you are, who is it that wants to know who you are? You can hardly know who you are if you don't know who wants to know who you are.

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.

Doubt is uncomfortable, certainty is ridiculous.

But I killed you," Alyss said. "Did you?" Red turned to The Cat. "Why wasn't I informed?

I think I speak for all of us when I say, "Huh?

The first rule in questioning any witness is: Never ask a question if you are not sure what the answer will be. - Brice Mack

Hell's waking up every goddamn day and not even knowing why you're here.

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.

I seem to be defying fate, or am I avoiding it?

that held no tradition too sacred to question. Jesus was the first of the Enlightenment philosophers. In John 8: 4-7 speaking like some sort of first century Voltaire, Jesus questioned the laws and traditions of his day. "And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and

I also happened to sincerely believe in my father's message, though "believe" is perhaps the wrong word. Rather, I had not yet begun to question my indoctrination.

I'd be adrift in an ocean of uncertainty." Yes, and perhaps that's the only honest place to be. Another name for uncertainty is humility. No one ever blew up a mosque, church, or abortion clinic after yelling, "I could be wrong.

Did I kill him?" I said. "No, miss," said Robert. "Pity.

Having spent all my life among academics, I can tell you that hearing how wrong they area is about as high on their priority list as finding a cockroach in their coffee. The typical scientist has made an interesting discovery early on in his or her career, followed by a lifetime of making sure that everyone else admires his or her contribution and that no one questions it. There is no poorer company than an aging scientist who has failed to achieve these objectives.

Werner Heisenberg put it, "what we observe is not nature in itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning." Heisenberg, a German physicist, made this observation regarding quantum mechanics, but it holds equally true for explorations of the animal

What we observe is not nature in itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning. —Werner Heisenberg (1958)1

What we observe is not nature in itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning. —Werner Heisenberg (1958)

Cultural diversity does not only imply geographically separated cultures. It can also include ethnic, class, professional, or organizational cultures. The mere fact that an individual is different from most people around him promotes more open and divergent, perhaps even rebellious, thinking in that person. Such a person is more prone to question traditions, rules, and boundaries—and to search for answers where others may not think to.

Oh my body, make of me a man who always questions!

ô mon corps, fait toujours de moi un homme qui s'interroge.