“The kind of problem that literature raises is not the kind that you ever 'solve.'”

— Northrop Frye

Whether my answers are any good or not, they represent a fair amount of thinking about the questions.
The Educated Imagination (1963), Talk 1: The Motive For Metaphor http://northropfrye-theeducatedimagination.blogspot.ca/2009/08/1-motive-for-metaphor.html

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Northrop Frye 137

Canadian literary critic and literary theorist 1912–1991

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“The kind of problem that literature raises is not the kind that you ever 'solve'. Whether my answers are any good or not, they represent a fair amount of thinking about the questions.”

Northrop Frye (1912–1991) Canadian literary critic and literary theorist

"Quotes", The Educated Imagination (1963), Talk 1: The Motive For Metaphor http://northropfrye-theeducatedimagination.blogspot.ca/2009/08/1-motive-for-metaphor.html

“Empirical problems of a nonlinguistic sort are not solved by linguistic considerations, but it is important that the two kinds of problems not be confused and that nonlinguistic problems be expressed in such a form as aids their empirical solution.”

Charles W. Morris (1903–1979) American philosopher

Source: "Foundations of the Theory of Signs," 1938, p. 57

“We cannot solve the problems using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

"Einstein's famous saying in Copenhagen", as quoted in a FBIS Daily Report https://books.google.de/books?id=DfQTAQAAMAAJ&q=%22We+cannot+solve%22: East Europe (4 April 1995), p. 45
Disputed

“I hope to see the kind of political culture that solves problems through dialogue and compromise, not through confrontation and conflict.”

Roh Moo-hyun (1946–2009) 9th President of the Republic of Korea

Excerpts from inaugural address (25 February 2003)

“The kind of knowledge that gives most help in solving such problems is a wide survey of human life, in the past as well as in the present, and an appreciation of the sources of misery or contentment as they appear in history.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

1940s, Philosophy for Laymen (1946)
Context: Mankind, ever since there have been civilized communities have been confronted with problems of two different kinds. On the one hand there has been the problem of mastering natural forces, of acquiring the knowledge and the skill required to produce tools and weapons and to encourage Nature in the production of useful animals and plants. This problem, in the modern world, is dealt with by science and scientific technique, and experience has shown that in order to deal with it adequately it is necessary to train a large number of rather narrow specialists.
But there is a second problem, less precise, and by some mistakenly regarded as unimportant – I mean the problem of how best to utilize our command over the forces of nature. This includes such burning issues as democracy versus dictatorship, capitalism versus socialism, international government versus international anarchy, free speculation versus authoritarian dogma. On such issues the laboratory can give no decisive guidance. The kind of knowledge that gives most help in solving such problems is a wide survey of human life, in the past as well as in the present, and an appreciation of the sources of misery or contentment as they appear in history.

“The problem is deep. It is gigantic in extent, and chaotic in detail. And I do not believe that it will be solved until there is a kind of cosmic discontent enlarging in the bosoms of people of good will all over this nation.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, The Role of the Behavioral Scientist in the Civil Rights Movement (1967)

“We know that there are children out there whose parents do not take the kind of interest in their upbringing and in their existence that we would wish, but I don't think censorship is ever the solution to any problem, be it societal or be it the kind of information or ideas that you have access to.”

Judith Krug (1940–2009) librarian and freedom of speech proponent

"Easy Access?" http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/cyberspace/july-dec97/library_8-7.html by Spencer Michels, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (August 7, 1997)

“To politicians, solved problems represent a dire threat — of unemployment and poverty. That's why no problem ever tackled by the government has ever been solved. What they want is lots of problems they can promise to solve, so that we'll keep electing them — or letting them keep their jobs in a bureaucracy metastasizing like cancer.”

L. Neil Smith (1946) American writer

"Of Pharaohs and Firearms" http://www.jpfo.org/smith/smith-pharaohs.htm.

“Even though I disagree with the tactics and the divisive rhetoric of the Black Lives Matter movement, I do understand that hopelessness and lack of opportunity breeds this type of desperation. And this is true in many of our nation’s ghettos and underprivileged communities, much of the protests in urban city centers are born out of this kind of desperation. But the thing is — the way that we can solve the problem and to eliminate this kind of a desperation is to create good jobs, urban economic revitalization, and opportunities for job training and long-term solutions. That will solve the problem in our troubled cities around this country. And I want to make a loud cry that we as Republicans — we are declaring right now today, that we are determined more than ever to listen to the cries of the disenfranchised, the low-income, the at-risk communities. We are more than ever – we will solve the problems together!”

Mark Burns (televangelist) (1979) Christian pastor and founder of the NOW Television Network

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“If you cannot solve the proposed problem, try to solve first a simpler related problem.”

George Pólya (1887–1985) Hungarian mathematician

Mathematical Methods in Science (1977), p.164

“The kind of problem that literature raises is not the kind that you ever 'solve.'”

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