“In some cases we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.”

—  Lloyd Alexander, book The Book of Three

Source: The Chronicles of Prydain (1964–1968), Book I: The Book of Three (1964), Chapter 1
Context: "Why?" Dallben interrupted. "In some cases," he said, "we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself."

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 20, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "In some cases we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the ans…" by Lloyd Alexander?
Lloyd Alexander photo
Lloyd Alexander93
American children's writer 1924–2007

Related quotes

Bruce Lee photo

“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”

Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker

“To gain knowledge, we must learn to ask the right questions; and to get answers, we must act, not wait for answers to occur to us.”

Anatol Rapoport (1911–2007) Russian-born American mathematical psychologist

Anatol Rapoport, "Modern Systems Theory – An Outlook for Coping with Change", paper given in the 1970 John Umstead Distinguished Lectures at North Carolina Department of Mental Health, Research Division, on 5 February 1970, and appeared in Revue Francaise de Sociologie, October 1969, p. 16
1970s and later

William S. Burroughs photo

“Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.”

William S. Burroughs (1914–1997) American novelist, short story writer, essayist, painter, and spoken word performer

Euripidés photo

“Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.”

Euripidés (-480–-406 BC) ancient Athenian playwright

José Saramago photo

“[…], perhaps that's how you learn, by answering questions.”

José Saramago book All the Names

Source: All the Names (1997), p. 48

Laura Bush photo

“Libraries allow children to ask questions about the world and find the answers. And the wonderful thing is that once a child learns to use a library, the doors to learning are always open.”

Laura Bush (1946) First Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009

As quoted in The 21st Century Elementary Library Media Program (2009) by Carl A. Harvey, p. 3

Katharine Graham photo

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

Katharine Graham (1917–2001) American publisher

Quoted by Jane Howard in The Power That Didn't Corrupt http://books.google.com/books?id=MNSxAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Bromidic+though+it+may+sound+some+questions+don-t+have+answers+which+is+a+terribly+difficult+lesson+to+learn%22, Ms. magazine (October 1974)

Newton Lee photo

“With quantum computing, scientists are learning how to better formulate questions, lest we end up with a perplexing answer like “42.””

Newton Lee American computer scientist

Google It: Total Information Awareness, 2016

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

““We in the Handdara don’t want answers. It’s hard to avoid them, but we try to.”
“Faxe, I don’t think I understand.”
“Well, we come here to the Fastnesses mostly to learn what questions not to ask.”
“But you’re the Answerers!”
“You don’t see, Genry, why we perfected and practice Foretelling?”
“No—”
“To exhibit the perfect uselessness of knowing the answer to the wrong question.””

Ursula K. Le Guin Hainish Cycle

Source: Hainish Cycle, The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), Chapter 5 “The Domestication of Hunch” (pp. 69-70)

“It's the questions we ask, the journey we take to get to where we are going that is more important than the actual answer.”

Charles de Lint (1951) author

"Paperjack" in Dreams Underfoot : The Newford Collection (2003), p. 396
Context: It's the questions we ask, the journey we take to get to where we are going that is more important than the actual answer. It's good to have mysteries. It reminds us that there's more to the world than just making do and having a bit of fun.

Related topics