George Dillon: It's easy to answer the ultimate questions - it saves you bothering with the immediate ones.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Answering ultimate questions can distract from dealing with everyday, practical issues.
- In plain terms
- Ultimate answers avoid immediate problems.
- What can you take from it?
- Address immediate concerns before chasing big abstractions.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When are big questions helpful?
- How to balance short‑ and long‑term thinking?
Another view
Some ultimate questions may guide long‑term direction.
More from John Osborne
Jimmy Porter: They spend their time mostly looking forward to the past.
Permalink to quote #1 This is a letter of hate. It is for you my countrymen, I mean those men of my country who have defiled it. The men with manic fingers leading the sightless, fe…
Permalink to quote #3 Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.
Permalink to quote #4
Related quotes
Camus said there is only really one serious philosophical question, which is whether or not to commit suicide. I think there are four or five serious philosoph…
Alan WattsAlan Watts quote #1 D'ou venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Ou allons-nous?
Paul GauguinPaul Gauguin quote #4 Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
Lin YutangLin Yutang quote #16