A Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson

An answer in words is delusive; it is really no answer to the questions you ask.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote Topics

Answer Ask Questions Really Words

Quote Author

Ralph Waldo Emerson
American - Philosopher
May 25, 1803 - April 27, 1882

When I get the questions, I answer what I can answer. If they ask me about the match, I cannot really say that I like eating bananas.

Caroline Wozniacki

Most people ask questions because they want to know the answer; lawyers are trained never to ask questions unless they already know the answer.

Lani Guinier

Writers always sound insufferably smug when they sit back and assert that their job is only to ask questions and not to answer them. But, in good part, it is true. And once you become committed to one particular answer, your freedom to ask new questions is seriously impaired.

David Hare

Younger generations, they ask more questions, like on a recipe. But they ask them online. If my staff doesn't know how to answer it, I will answer.

Lidia Bastianich

Those who are concerned with the arts are often asked questions, not always sympathetic ones, about the use or value of what they are doing. It is probably impossible to answer such questions directly, or at any rate to answer the people who ask them.

Northrop Frye

It is commonly, but erroneously, believed that it is easy to ask questions. A fool, it is said, can ask questions that a wise man cannot answer. The fact is that a wise man can answer many questions that a fool cannot ask.

Cassius Jackson Keyser

My rule in making up examination questions is to ask questions which I can't myself answer. It astounds me to see how some of my students answer questions which would play the deuce with me.

Henry Adams

I think if you're forthright and answer a lot of questions, sometimes you'll get people who won't let you answer the questions, and that makes for a difficult answer.

Rand Paul

Our job is not to answer questions, its to ask the right questions...that get us to the right answer.

Bill Buxton

I did answer all of the questions put to me today, ... Nothing in my testimony in any way contradicted the strong denials that the president has made to these allegations, and since I have been asked to return and answer some additional questions, I think that it's best that I not answer any questions out here and reserve that to the grand jury.

John Podesta

I've honed in on three questions that I ask myself when I'm evaluating where to spend my time. Is this something that I'm passionate about, is it purposeful, and will I have impact? And if I can't answer 'yes' to all three questions, then I have to sit back and ask, 'Is it really that important?'

Mindy Grossman

I don't believe he had a responsibility to even answer that question - you have no responsibility to answer personal questions that people have no right to ask you.

Chris Matthews

Saying, 'I'll find the answer for you,' opens the door for people to still come to me with questions. Even if I don't have an immediate answer, I build trust by finding the answer.

Bobby Wagner

I like thinking and being able to answer questions that are tough to answer. You have to try to figure out how to get a good answer and look intelligent.

Willie Cauley-Stein

As human beings, don't we need questions without answers as well as questions with answers, questions that we might someday answer and questions that we can never answer?