Quotes About Inquiry

As the poet E. E. Cummings observed, "Always a more beautiful answer that asks a more beautiful question.

As I form the words, it seems entirely possible that what I wanted all along was to answer the question myself.

One day I pulled the slender volume Children's Letters to God from a bookshelf and came upon this letter from a little girl named Sylvia: "Dear God, Are boys better than girls, I know you are one but try to be fair. Sylvia."22

the general for his temporary use, or as we should say, in his tent. See. ss. 26.] 1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State. 2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected. 3. The art of

If you start looking up, they start asking questions.

REMEMBER Ask who, what, when, where and how. Don't ask why.

If you want to know, you need to ask her. Speculation will only lead to trouble.

NATALIE DROVE TO work because floating there would cause people to ask too many questions.

What she really wanted to ask was "What possessed you to choose this ridiculous little town when you could have lived in New York or Los Angeles" but felt that might sound slightly judgmental

Reason drives your search to make sense of the world by pushing you to ask why things are as they are. For theoretical reason, the outcome of that search becomes science; for practical reason, the outcome is a more just world.

It was best not to ask too many questions of the Ferrets and Weasels of this world. There was less to deny when the headhunters put you on a polygraph.

then what would I do?' She was getting herself into quite a

at him. 'What could be wrong?' Not knowing how to answer, she turned the question back to

He never lied to me. I just didn't ask the questions I didn't want to know the answers to.

Have I ever told you, you look like Monty Clift? he inquired in a deep, seductive voice. Before or after the accident?

She no longer lived in a world of speculation or recall and would take nothing on faith when the facts were but a few clicks away. It drove me nuts. I was sick to death of having as my dinner companions Wikipedia, About.com, IMDb, the Zagat guide, Time out New York, a hundred Tumblrs, the New York Times, and People magazine. Was there not some strange forgotten pleasure in reveling in our ignorance? Would we just be wrong?

I'd like to put in a vote for the intrinsic fascination of science.

It's not a silly question if you can't answer it.

You're sure he's not a cross-dresser?" Diana asked.

It seems disingenuous to ask a writer why she, or he, is writing about a violent subject when the world and history are filled with violence.

Who knows what is going on on the other side of each hour?

You cannot answer a question that you cannot ask, and you cannot ask a question that you have no words for.

My emphasis on language also comes from a deep conviction that language shapes our thoughts. You cannot answer a question that you cannot ask, and you cannot ask a question that you have no words for.

Some questions are not meant to be asked as long as the answers are right.