Einstein and questioning
Exploring the inquiring mind of one of our greatest thinkers
It’s a funny thing: People are sometimes afraid to ask questions out of fear of seeming “stupid.” And yet the smartest people on the planet are often the ones who ask the most questions. Case in point: Albert Einstein.
To get a sense of how Einstein felt about questioning, just look at some of the many famous quotes from him on this subject.
-
- Einstein’s beautiful question in his teens
{See the full Question Quotes gallery}
Let’s start with this one: “The important thing is not to stop questioning.” This is actually the first part of a longer quote, which ends with the wonderful line: “Never lose a holy curiosity.”
Einstein thought questioning and curiosity were the key to learning. In my book, I address the matter of encouraging students to question and explore in school (as opposed to just throwing “knowledge” at them and requiring them to memorize it). Einstein was keenly aware of this problem many years ago, when he said, “It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.” He also said, “I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.”
Then there is my own favorite quote from Einstein:
“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask… for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”
By the way, I’ve seen this quote worded in various ways. Sometimes it has Einstein saying that he’d spend “55 minutes thinking about the problem, and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” Hopefully I can track down the original quote and its exact wording, but either way, it makes the same point (because in this case, “question” and “problem” are almost interchangeable terms). The point is, you’ve got to figure out the crux of the matter—the essential problem or question to be addressed—before focusing in on answers.
One more bit of Einstein/questioning lore: From my understanding, Einstein’s theory of relativity began with an early “beautiful question” he posed, along the lines of “What if I rode a beam of light across the universe?” and then set out to answer.
Anybody have more stories or insights on Einstein and questioning? Would love to hear them.
» Questioning didn’t stop with Einstein. See my page about Master Questioners.
“Why has a book like this never been written before? Here is a persuasive case for the simple and yet extraordinary power of a question. Fascinating, engaging stories give life to a strong argument about how much can be accomplished, in every domain of our lives, ‘just’ by asking questions. Innovators, entrepreneurs, citizens, parents, teachers, idealists and realists—all of us have much to gain by reading 
“Questions have literally moved mountains, powered rockets, and instantly developed images. Berger focuses on what he calls ‘Beautiful Questions’… that can lead to game-changing answers and results. These are questions that, once raised, tend to get people thinking in a different way.”
“The desire to ask bigger and better questions is on the rise… Warren Berger has been tracking a movement toward questioning that is running very strong in Silicon Valley, but also seems to be spreading throughout the business, nonprofit and education sectors.”
I am an elementary school teacher who has read your book over and over and over again in an attempt to design and lead courses that encourage those who teach with me (both teachers and parents) to provide the environment and instruction that will encourage students to ask questions before, during, and after topics of study and throughout their lives. I see a situation in classrooms where students really do think that questioning is not a good thing as it can be seen as they weren’t paying attention or that by asking the question they are insulting the other person. They do not see the value of a question and think it is what the teachers do, not the students. I recently overheard a conversation with a young child and her mom where the mother asked the little girl why are you asking me questions you already know the answers to? The girl replied, that that is what teachers do, they ask questions they already know the answer to, just to see if the kids know them. Out of the mouths of babes, it hit me. She is right! I am conducting professional development courses on this topic and am really struggling to come up with my “More Beautiful Question” as to how I might make this book study on questioning more of a beginning rather than something that ends when the course is over. Every time I read through my notes, i find more and more discussion topics, but I feel I need to do something more concrete. Identify a “why or why not”, think of a “what if” create a “How might I” and begin working on the prototype in their school, classroom, or home. That would really give us something to work with . Any suggestions?
MK Clancey
Most parents smother questions out of their children at the age of 4 when they’re curiosity has just begun to bloom. Sadly because the questions are never-ending.
Amy Jackson
I see the world is divided into two camps:
The first camp encourages questioning and subscribes to the belief that there’s no such thing as a “dumb” question. The other group considers questioning to be an excuse for not paying attention or just plain laziness. The distain for questioning could also be part a “personal protection mechanism” whose purpose is to block or obstruct responses from individuals with conflicting viewpoints.
charlie bergman