Sometimes the second question goes deeper than the first. Page 2 of Questions & Questioning lingers with doubt, wonder, and the patience it takes to “live the questions,” as Rainer Maria Rilke wrote. From Thornton Wilder’s ice-cream philosophy to Zora Neale Hurston’s years that ask and years that answer, these quotations invite you to listen, to keep asking, and to trust that, as Lucero Isaac joked, if we don’t pause, how can life possibly answer our questions?

“My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate—that's my philosophy.” ~ Thornton Wilder

“Only ask and you will get what you are needing, the rest is up to you.” ~ Eric Clapton

“It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.” ~ Thomas Paine

“To be, or not to be, that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them.” ~ William Shakespeare

“You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.” ~ Naguib Mahfouz

“Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. 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

“Eighty percent of American managers cannot answer with any measure of confidence these seemingly simple questions: What is my job? What in it really counts? How well am I doing?” ~ W. Edwards Deming

“Bromidic though it may sound, some questions don’t have answers, which is a terribly difficult lesson to learn.” ~ Katharine Graham

“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.” ~ Voltaire

“The greatest gift is not being afraid to question.” ~ Ruby Dee

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” ~ Zora Neale Hurston

“Why we are here is an impenetrable question.” ~ Edward Albee

“Life’s two most important questions are ‘Why?’ and ‘Why not?’” ~ Gordon Livingston, Too Soon Old

“We especially need imagination in science. Question everything.” ~ Maria Mitchell, Life, Letters, and Journals