Questions are more important than answers because questions seek to understand–clarify, frame, and evaluate. In contrast, at their best, answers are transient responses whose relative quality can decay over time, needing to be reformed, remade, and reevaluated as the world changes.
“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers,” Voltaire insisted.
Asking questions drives creativity. It cultivates an open mind. The questions we ask lead us to new knowledge. Questions push us to answers we never thought to consider until we asked the question.
Good questions help us define what we don’t know and force us or others to justify what we think we know. It has an answer we can reach, yet it unsettles what we already know.
