Rhetorical Question Quotes

• If practice makes perfect, and no one's perfect, then why practice?

  Billy Corgan

  Practice, Perfect, Ifs

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• How many roads must a man walk down.. Before you can call him a Man.

  Bob Dylan

  Men, Walks

  'Blowin' in the Wind' (1962 song)

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• What have the Romans ever done for us?

  John Cleese

  Holy Grail, Done, Sanitation

  "Early On, Comedian John Cleese Says, He Had Good Timing But Little Else". "Fresh Air" with Dave Davies, www.npr.org. October 16, 2015.

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• All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

  John Cleese

  Wine, Order, Medicine

  "Fictional character: Reg". "Life of Brian", www.imdb.com. 1979.

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• How many roads must a man walk down?

  Douglas Adams

  Men, Ultimate Questions, Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

  Douglas Adams (2009). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”, p.132, Pan Macmillan

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• When will all the rhetorical questions end?

  George Carlin

  Funny, Humor, Ends

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• All rhetorical questions are accusations.

  David Mamet

  Accusation, Rhetorical

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• I've been around so long, I can remember when it was a rhetorical question to ask, "Is the pope Catholic?" Now it's a legit question.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Long, Catholic, Remember

  "The Pope: Trump’s Not a Christian". "The Rush Limbaugh Show", www.rushlimbaugh.com. February 18, 2016.

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• What is in the air there in Washington, what is in the water? What is wrong with them? This is not a rhetorical question. I think it is unspoken question No.1 as Americans look at so many of the individuals in our government. What is wrong with them?

  Peggy Noonan

  Thinking, Government, Air

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• 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

  Denial, World, Gestures

  Kamila Shamsie (2005). “Broken Verses”, p.109, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• What am I to do with you?" Redd asked. "M-maybe you could-" Jack began. The Cat raised a paw. "I know." "It was a rhetorical question, fools! You don't answer it! Since when do I need help making anyone suffer?

  Frank Beddor

  Cat, Suffering, Needs

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• Art has always been this--pure interrogation, rhetorical question less the rhetoric--whatever else it may have been obliged by social reality to appear.

  Samuel Beckett

  Art, Reality, Literature

  Samuel Beckett, Ruby Cohn (1983). “Disjecta: miscellaneous writings and a dramatic fragment”, Riverrun Pr

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• The idea that we are the gods now, and we are doing things that our ancestors think are god-like is not a rhetorical question. You know what I mean? We really are as gods.

  Jason Silva

  Mean, Thinking, Ideas

  Source: alejandrotrojas.com

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• I'd finished the first two [books] and they were going to to be published, and [editor] said, "We need you to write a summary that will drive people to these books." And it took forever. I couldn't think of a thing to say. I looked at the back of other children's books that were full of giddy praise and corny rhetorical questions, you know, "Will she have a better time at summer camp than she thinks?" "How will she escape from the troll's dungeon?" All these terrible, terrible summaries of books, and I just couldn't.

  Daniel Handler

  Summer, Children, Book

  Interview with Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com. November 16, 2005.

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• O love-why can't you leave me alone? Which is a rhetorical question meaning: for heaven's sake, don't.

  Thomas Merton

  Love, Heaven, Leave Me Alone

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• 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

  Thank You, Loss, Rams

  Orson Scott Card (2011). “Pathfinder”, p.64, Simon and Schuster

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• Redd's face contorted with a sudden realization. "How could I have been so stupid?" The Cat was trying to decide if this was a rhetorical question when she roared, "It's a construct!" With a dismiissive swing of Redd's arm, Alyss and her army began to shimmer, the billon points of engery that formed them monentarily visible before exploding apart into nothing. Redd scoped the queendom with her imagination's eye. "Where are you, Alyss? Where is my dear little niece?

  Frank Beddor

  Niece, Stupid, Cat

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• The only tactic liberals have is to try to intimidate people into thinking that the Tea Party is racist. The Tea Party is not a racist movement, period! If it were, why would the straw polls keep showing that the black guy is winning? That's a rhetorical question. Let me state it: The black guy keeps winning.

  Herman Cain

  Party, Winning, Thinking

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