Do you spend much time thinking about questions?  Many of us, myself included, rarely do. I’m trying to change my own attitude toward questions, and encourage you to re-think their value to you as well.  One of the themes for my blog this year is asking questions.

Here’s a list of quotes about the value of questions from a variety of famous people—philosophers, scientists, and, of course, Bono. As you read through it, stop to ponder and ask yourself which one most jumps out to you?  Which has the ring of truth for you?

• “It’s not that they can’t see the solution. They can’t see the problem.” – G.K. Chesterton
• “There are no right answers to wrong questions.” – Ursula K. Le Guin
• “We thought that we had the answers, it was the questions we had wrong.” – Bono
• “Asking the right questions takes as much skill as giving the right answers.” – Robert Half
• “What people think of as the moment of discovery is really the discovery of the question.” – Jonas Salk
• “What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” – Werner Heisenberg
• “The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a very creative mind to spot wrong questions.” – Antony Jay
• “In school, we’re rewarded for having the answer, not for asking a good question.” – Richard Saul Wurman
• “In all 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
• “Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” – Pablo Picasso
• “Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.” – Voltaire
• “We hear only those questions for which we are in a position to find answers.” – Friedrich Nietszche
• “My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.” – Peter Drucker
• “He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.” – Chinese proverb

As you ponder which quote may have jumped out at you, I’ll share the same for me.  First, it’s this one:

“We hear only those questions for which we are in a position to find answers.” – Friedrich Nietszche

I’ve done a good bit of work and writing about worldview, and this gets to the heart of it. Our worldview can determine the kinds of questions we ask, and therefore also pre-determine the answers we receive. 

A simple example might be news reports of needy and sick voters in areas that voted for Donald Trump; their worldview continues to endorse that he’s “on our side” even though the budget cuts he has proposed eliminate many programs essential to their well-being, including health insurance. 

Another example might be a teenager acting out in negative ways; if we only ask questions like “what’s wrong with her?” we miss the family system dimension which suggests that the whole family is involved in what is happening.

In other words, if we only ask those questions for which we already have answers (or think we do), we are caught in a feedback loop.  It’s hard to think outside the box. 

It takes courage to push ourselves a little to consider new questions.  That’s where the quote from my friend Bono hits the nail on the head:

“We thought that we had the answers, it was the questions we had wrong.” – Bono

I’ve offered my response but what about you?  Which of these statements about the power of questions resonates with you?  What is it about that particular statement that makes it challenging to you? 

Asking questions is not easy.  It takes mental and emotional energy. It sometimes rattles peoples’ cages (including our own).  But there are also great rewards. 

Question:  Which quote made an impact on you, and why?  Please share your thoughts in a comment.

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