Avi Quotes

One of the secrets of life is to keep our intellectual curiosity acute.

The greatest gift is not being afraid to question.

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!

Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.

Listen and watch the world around you. Don't be satisfied with answers others give you.

Writing isn't necessarily about what one knows but what one wants to know.

There are no sure answers, only better questions.

Once you've decided that something's absolutely true, you've closed your mind on it, and a closed mind doesn't go anywhere. Question everything. That's what education's all about.

It's empowering to be asked to look at what's possible, not told how to do it.

I say, “You may be right, but don’t knock it until you’re tried it. Don’t say, ‘I think it’s worthless; therefore I’m not going to spend any time looking into myself the way one who prays does.'” Maybe that’s an even worse mistake than praying might be.

Certainty is a closing of the mind. To create something new you must have doubt.

If we have too much clarity, we might not be compelled to continue searching for new ideas.

As I write, invariably I encounter more questions and answer those as I go.

Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.

Curiosity is the key to creativity.

Ideologies are too seductive anyway. It does a man good to see things from a different point of view.

Assume nothing, question everything.

Pico Iyer describes his writing as "intimate letters to a stranger," and I think that is what the writing process is. It begins with a question, and then you follow this path of exploration.

Literature is one of the few kinds of writing in the world that does not tell you what to buy, want, see, be, or believe. It's more like conversation, raising new questions and inspiring you to answer them for yourself.

For me writing is foremost a mode of thinking and when it works well, an act of discovery

Whatever it was, my mom said, I'm going to seek out more. And so I was constantly confused, which is sometimes a little bit, you know, disorienting. But I feel like it leads to a way more colorful life.

Fundamentalist is a person who considers whether a fact is acceptable to their faith before they explore it. As opposed to a curious person who explores first and then considers whether or not they want to accept the ramifications.

The important thing is to never stop questioning. Never lose a holy curiosity.

You have to be again innocent, ignorant, not knowing anything, so that the questions can start arising again. Again the inquiry becomes alive, and with the inquiry becoming alive you cannot vegetate. Then life becomes an exploration, an adventure.

At school, new ideas are thrust at you every day. Out in the world, you’ll have to find the inner motivation to search for new ideas on your own. With any luck at all, you’ll never need to take an idea and squeeze a punchline out of it, but as bright, creative people, you’ll be called upon to generate ideas and solutions all your lives. Letting your mind play is the best way to solve problems.