35 Thought-Provoking Quotes From Some Of History’s Most Brilliant Minds

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Questions are a powerful tool for learning, understanding, and growth. They can help us to explore new ideas, challenge our assumptions, and make better decisions. Throughout history, some of the most brilliant minds have asked some very thought-provoking questions.

Good Thought Provoking Questions

1. “The most important question you can ever ask is if the world is a friendly place?” – Albert Einstein
2. “A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?” – Albert Einstein
3. “If we were to one day encounter a form of life more powerful and intelligent than our own, and it regarded us as we regard fish, what would be our argument against being eaten?” – Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals
4. “What would someone who doesn’t like you say about you?” – General Stanley McChrystal
5. “The only bipartisanship you ever see is when they finally sign a bill and everybody says, ‘Gee, isn’t that wonderful?'” – Colin Powell
6. “Do you remember the moment you realized, because of the color of your skin, the rules are somehow different for you?” – Joel Freeman
7. “What didn’t you get a chance to include on your résumé?” – Richard Branson
8. “What important truth do very few people agree with you on?” – Peter Thiel
9. “What is your spiritual practice?” – Oprah Winfrey
10. “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” – Ronald Reagan
11. “How does it feel to be a problem?” – W. E. B. Du Bois
12. “In all my work, I try to say – ‘You may be given a load of sour lemons, why not try to make a dozen lemon meringue pies?'” – Maya Angelou
13. “Who do you say I am?” – Jesus Christ
14. “If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?” – William Shakespeare
15. Who could refrain that had a heart to love and in that heart courage to make love known? – William Shakespeare
16. “Who could refrain that had a heart to love and in that heart courage to make love known?” – William Shakespeare
17. “What in your profession is impossible?” – Jackie Gleason
18. “Those who are powerful have to remember the litmus test that God gives to the powerful: what is your treatment of the poor, the hungry, the voiceless?” – Desmond Tutu
19. “How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I’m committed to?” – Tony Robbins
20. “Success comes from taking the initiative and following up… persisting… eloquently expressing the depth of your love. What simple action could you take today to produce a new momentum toward success in your life?” – Tony Robbins
21. “The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?” – Edgar Allan Poe
22. Is man ever a creature to be trusted with wholly irresponsible power? – Harriet Beecher Stowe
23. I will govern my life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one and read the other, for what does it signify to make anything a secret to my neighbor, when to God, who is the searcher of our hearts, all our privacies are open? – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
24. How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I’m committed to? – Tony Robbins
25. In all my work, I try to say – ‘You may be given a load of sour lemons, why not try to make a dozen lemon meringue pies?’ – Maya Angelou
26. “We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror?” – Maya Angelou
27. “What is the appropriate behavior for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What’s the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?” – Buddha
28. “What is the appropriate behavior for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What’s the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?” – Buddha
29. “However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act upon them?” – Buddha
30. What is the appropriate behavior for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What’s the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood? – Buddha
31. Everybody has asked the question, and they learned to ask it early of the abolitionists, ‘What shall we do with the Negro?’ – Frederick Douglass
32. “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?” – Abraham Lincoln
33. I should like to know if, taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle, you begin making exceptions to it, where will you stop? If one man says it does not mean a Negro, why not another say it does not mean some other man?  – Abraham Lincoln
34. “If one man says it does not mean a Negro, why not another say it does not mean some other man?” – Abraham Lincoln
35. “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” – Abraham Lincoln

35 Thought-Provoking Quotes From Some Of History’s Most Brilliant Minds Share on X

Something To Think About

These thought-provoking questions, posed by brilliant minds throughout history, encourage introspection, inspire growth, and foster a greater understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

I hope you feel more enlightened now. I did, after compiling this list of thought-provoking quotes. Have an introspective day!