Inquisitiveness and Curiosity

“Curiosity is one of the great secrets of happiness.” -Bryant McGill (born 1969)
 
“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” -Carl Edward Sagan (1934 - 1996)
 
“I would rather live in a world where life is surrounded by mystery, than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.” -Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878 - 1969): “Riverside Sermons” (1958)
 
Inquisitive Lad
 
There once was a boy of Bagdad,
An inquisitive sort of a lad.
     He said, “I will see
     If a sting has a bee.”
And he very soon found that it had!
 
by Author Unknown
 
“A good scientist is a person in whom the childhood quality of perennial curiosity lingers on. Once he gets an answer, he has other questions.” -Frederick Seitz (1911 - 2008)
 
Patrice: You’re a real curiosity - did you know that?
Shaun: Well, thank you, though I doubt if you shall ever solve me.
 
“The Quest Quotient has always interested me more than the Intelligence Quotient.” -Eugene S. Wilson (Eugene Smith ‘Bill’ Wilson, Junior (1905 - 1981)): as quoted in “Reader’s Digest” (April 1968)
 
“Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.” -James Stephens (1880 - 1950)
 
“Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why.” -Bernard Baruch (1870 - 1965)
 
“Be curious always! For knowledge will not acquire you; you must acquire it.” -Sudie Back (Sudie Elizabeth Back Sattler (born 1973))

“I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.” -Eleanor Roosevelt (Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962))
 
“A generous and elevated mind is distinguished by nothing more certainly than an eminent degree of curiosity.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)
 
“She sat down in a weed patch, her elbows on her knees, and kept her eyes on the small mysterious world of the ground. In the shade and sun of grass blade forests, small living things had their metropolis.” -Nancy Price
 
“Leave no stone unturned.” -Euripides (484 B.C.E. - 406 B.C.E.)
 
“To find what you seek in the road of life, the best proverb of all is that which says: ‘Leave no stone unturned.’” -Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton (1803 - 1873)
 
“The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing.” -Isaac Asimov (1919 - 1992)
 
“Look and you will find it - what is unsought will go undetected.” -Sophocles (496 B.C.E. - 406 B.C.E.)
 
“Curiosity is a willing, a proud, an eager confession of ignorance.” -S. Leonard Rubinstein (Samuel Leonard Rubinstein (1922 - 2013)): “Writing: A Habit of Mind” (1972)
 
“Be aware of wonder. And then remember the, “Dick and Jane,” books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - look.” -Robert Fulghum (Robert Lee Fulghum (born 1937))
 
“Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse.” -Author Unknown
 
“Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784): as quoted in “The Rambler” (12 March 1751)
 
“There are two sorts of curiosity - the momentary and the permanent. The momentary is concerned with the odd appearance on the surface of things. The permanent is attracted by the amazing and consecutive life that flows on beneath the surface of things.” -Robert Lynd (Robert Wilson Lynd (1879 - 1949))

“Curiosity is the one thing invincible in nature.” -Freya Stark (Freya Madeline Stark (1893 - 1993))
 
“He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.” -Author Unknown
 
“The greatest virtue of man is perhaps curiosity.” -Anatole France (pseudonym of Jacques Anatole François Thibault (1844 - 1924))
 
“Curiosity killed the cat.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in the “Los Angeles Times” (22 August 1901) newspaper
 
Overheard: ‘Curiosity killed the cat’ is a common saying, but until someone shows me the record of the incident, I shall be disinclined to believe it.
 
“The place where you lose the trail is not necessarily the place where it ends.” -Tom Brown, Junior (born 1950): “The Tracker” (1978)
 
Amy: Who crossed the road and left everyone wanting an explanation?
Eva: The chicken.
 
“The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.” -Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)
 
“Satisfaction of one’s curiosity is one of the greatest sources of happiness in life.” - Linus Pauling (1901 - 1994)
 
“Things that people learn purely out of curiosity can have a revolutionary effect on human affairs.” -Frederick Seitz (1911 - 2008): in an interview (3 September 1997) for the George C. Marshall Institute
 
A ‘clue’ originally meant a ball of thread . . . hence, one ‘unravels’ the clues of a mystery.
 
“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive - it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it? There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there?” -L. M. Montgomery (Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874 - 1942)): “Anne of Green Gables” (June 1908), Chapter 2; line spoken by fictional character Anne
 
“The moment that one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious and awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.” -Henry Miller (Henry Valentine Miller (1891 - 1980))
 
“‘Curiouser and curiouser!’ cried Alice.” -Lewis Carroll (pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832 - 1898)): “Alice in Wonderland” (1865), Chapter II
 
This is MFOL! . . . the website for anyone who has ever been told that he or she is a real curiosity . . . which is, after all, what everyone is . . .