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About this quote

What does it mean?
Asking questions is more valuable than claiming to have all the answers.
In plain terms
It is better to be curious than to think you know everything.
What can you take from it?
Curiosity outweighs certainty.

Where it applies

  • education
  • problem solving
  • conversation

Putting it to work

  • ask more questions
  • avoid assuming knowledge

Questions to consider

  • When did you learn more from a question than an answer?
  • Are you asking enough?

Another view

Sometimes having answers is necessary for making quick decisions.

More from James Thurber

  1. A burden in the bush is worth two on your hands.

    Permalink to quote #5

  2. There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else.

    Permalink to quote #7

  3. He knows all about art, but he doesn't know what he likes.

    Permalink to quote #4

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  3. But let a man know that there are things to be known, of which he is ignorant, and it is so much carved out of his domain of universal knowledge.

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