Quotes & Sayings About Rhetorical Questions

Don't be daft, I love you."
He grins, "You've never said. — Rae Carson

What I admire about the modern atheist is not at all his logic, but rather his gift of imagination. There will always be the cartoon versions of Christianity further perpetuated by the extremist atheists who do not possess the humility to ask real scholars and theologians its difficult questions. There is little doubt that the atheist has the bigger imagination: the first reason is due to his persistent caricatures of what constitutes a Christian; the second because of his belief that most of his questions are actually rhetorical. From this I can infer that, instead of laughing at one another (the Christian at modern atheist immaturity and the modern atheist at Christian stupidity), we would have a better chance at productivity laughing with one another as we all dumb down what we don't understand. — Criss Jami

I know that this stuff probably doesn't sound fun and breezy or grandly inspirational. What it is, so far as I can see, is the truth with a whole lot of rhetorical bullshit pared away. Obviously, you can think of it whatever you wish. But please don't dismiss it as some finger-wagging Dr. Laura sermon. None of this is about morality, or religion, or dogma, or big fancy questions of life after death. The capital- T Truth is about life before death. It is about making it to 30, or maybe 50, without wanting to shoot yourself in the head. It is about simple awareness - awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over: "This is water, this is water."
It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive, day in and day out. — David Foster Wallace

And suddenly they came out of the woodwork. I don't actually know what that expression means. What come out of the wood work? Cockroaches maybe. Mice? Are these rhetorical questions, like I just learned about on one of my rare visits to school? Was that a rhetorical question? Is it a paradox when you ask rhetorically if a rhetorical question is a rhetorical question? I think I'd better stop before I get a headache. — John Marsden

Women are good at rhetorical questions, aren't they? — Stephen King

Though some of us like to get on stage, many introverts are content to put on their invisibility cloaks and watch. But well-meaning extroverts will have none of that! They need to draw us out, invite us to participate - repeatedly - and question why we are so depressed as to not want to join. — Laurie A. Helgoe

For the academic the rhetorical sense of superiority through the possession of knowledge is essential for facing the daily grind, turning again to the otherwise boring article, braving the students who, fresh as each class may be, will still ask the same questions year after year. Psychological survival is not achieved without effort, and the environment must be managed, knocked about with one's elbows until it takes a shape comfortable to one's sense of self. This is not selfishness, for in reshaping the environment the academic is also reinvigorating the educational process. — Robin Winks

Spread me like a sheet of paper. Write your life on mine. Fold past and present together like a letter. I am yours. — C.D. Reiss

I can be a voice. I can use my platform to help the younger generation. I think it's really important for them to understand how to do things the right way, and not just in sports, in life in general. — Allyson Felix

What will we care for the why and the wherefore? — Graham Greene

said, "We don't have an armored vehicle. Therefore we're pretty much limited to the doors and the windows." "Which will be wired for alarms." "Which will be redundant. They won't need a bell on the roof to tell them we're there." "Which is where, exactly? In a house with four remaining guards and two world-class killers? Who collectively outnumber us three to one? In a structure much easier to defend than attack?" "Assuming those questions were rhetorical, I think that's a fair summary. — Lee Child

That's a rhetorical question, and trying to answer rhetorical questions instead of being cowed by them is a good habit to cultivate. — Daniel C. Dennett

Dark clouds may hang on me sometimes, but I'll work it out ... — Dave Matthews

If my mother's intention in whole or in part was to ensure that I never had to suffer any indignity or embarrassment for being a Jew, then she succeeded well enough. And in any case there were enough intermarriages and 'conversions' on both sides of her line to make me one of those many mischling hybrids who are to be found distributed all over the known world. And, as someone who doesn't really believe that the human species is subdivided by 'race,' let alone that a nation or nationality can be defined by its religion, why should I not let the whole question slide away from me? Why - and then I'll stop asking rhetorical questions - did I at some point resolve that, in whatever tone of voice I was asked 'Are you a Jew?' I would never hear myself deny it? — Christopher Hitchens

To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation - is that good for the world? — Christopher Hitchens

Not all of Derrida's writing is to everyone's taste. He had an irritating habit of overusing the rhetorical question, which lends itself easily to parody: 'What is it, to speak? How can I even speak of this? Who is this "I" who speaks of speaking? — Terry Eagleton

I had escaped from my prior partisan mind-set (reject first, ask rhetorical questions later) and began to think about liberal and conservative policies as manifestations of deeply conflicting but equally heartfelt visions of the good society.28 — Jonathan Haidt

The second most important attribute of winners, after understanding the human dimension, is knowing what questions to ask, the rhetorical nature. — Frank Luntz

Ut mos totus rhetoricus problemati terminus?
(When will all the rhetorical questions end?) — Mike Thomas

All rhetorical questions are accusations. — David Mamet

You came out kicking and screaming, reluctant as hell to leave, and you spent the rest of your life trying to get back in. — Donald O'Donovan

Using rhetorical questions in speeches is a great way to keep the audience involved. Don't you think those kinds of questions would keep your attention? — Bo Bennett

Somewhat more blatant was President Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich, a wealthy financier and oil trader who faced life in prison for illegally trading with the government of Iran and for evading $48 million in taxes. These crimes got him on the FBI's Most Wanted List. Rich's ex-wife, Denise, had been pressing Clinton for a pardon, but Clinton reportedly said he was having difficulties, even though he was "doing all possible to turn around" the White House counsel on the subject. Rich got his pardon, finally, after Denise Rich gave $100,000 to Hillary Clinton's 2000 New York Senate campaign, $400,000 to the Clinton Library, and another $1 million to the Democratic Party. The — Dinesh D'Souza

I didn't serve on a committee that dealt with foreign policy. — Geraldine Ferraro

A rhetorical question. It has a question mark at the end, but you are not meant to answer it because the person who is asking it already knows the answer. — Mark Haddon

Keep a sharp lookout upon your materials; get rid of every pound of material you can do without; put to yourself the question what business has it to be there?, avoid complexities, and make everything as simple as possible. — Henry Maudslay

Scientific theory is a contrived foothold in the chaos of living phenomena. — Wilhelm Reich

Half the time I have no idea what I'm doing. The other half, I'm trying to undo what I did when I didn't know what I was doing. That leaves, let's see now ... one more half. That last half is divided into three halves, one for working, one for writing, and one for asking the mother of all rhetorical questions ... WTF? — Suki Michelle

After the war, Germany fully confessed to all its dirty tricks. It's necessary to is draw a line under the past, even if people did something evil. Until we do, wounds won't heal. — Lech Walesa

Shadows can indicate what's shining bright But it's the sun which fills your soul with light, — Rumi

Whoop-de-do," said Ram.
"What?"
"I'm celebrating."
"Was that irony or loss of mental function?" asked the expendable.
"Was that a rhetorical questions, a bit of humor, or a sign that you are losing confidence in me?"
"I have no confidence in you, Ram," said the expendable.
"Well, thanks."
"You're welcome. — Orson Scott Card

Can I ask you a personal question? Of all the rhetorical questions
in the world, that is the one which irritates me most with its
simultaneous gesture towards and denial of the trespass that is about
to follow. — Kamila Shamsie

He wanted to ask whether she were insane, but he had been married long enough to know the price of injudicious rhetorical questions. — Diana Gabaldon