Peter Abelard Quotes

No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.

A good question is, of course, the key by which infinite answers can be educed.

The first beginnings of wisdom...is to ask questions but never to answer any.

It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.

The question is just as important as the answer.

The basic drive behind real philosophy is curiosity about the world, not interest in the writings of philosophers.

The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.

Once you start asking questions, innocence is gone.

If you do not know how to ask the right question, you discover nothing.

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.

Doubt is one of the names of intelligence.

What is "this drive"? It's the tendency to not simply accept things as they are but to want to think about them, to understand them. To not be content to simply feel sad but to ask what sadness means. To not just get a bus pass but to think about the economic reasons getting a bus pass makes sense. I call this tendency the intellectual.

Curiosity is the beginning of all wisdom.

To ask the proper question is half of knowing.

It's not enough to have the right answers. You have to have the right questions.

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom in learning from books as well as from nature.

The important thing is to never stop questioning. Never lose a holy curiosity.

Doubt is often the beginning of wisdom.

The thing is, not to stop questioning.

To wonder is to begin to understand.

Persistent questioning and healthy inquisitiveness are the first requisite for acquiring learning of any kind.

One who never asks either knows everything or nothing.

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.

There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question.

They know enough who know how to learn.