Why Quotes

“You’re fucking disgusting. You love being fucked by my cock. I bet you had a fucking lisp as a child. I bet you had occupational issues that made it hard for you to hold a pencil.”
― Sophie Kemp, Paradise Logic

“But as long as they gave us medals,
that fixed it, as far as the army was concerned. You expect heroes to survive
terrible things. If you give them a medal, then you don’t ever have to ask why
the terrible thing happened in the first place. Or try to fix it.”
― T. Kingfisher, A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking

“Besides, finding out something like that would have killed my mother."
And then Jessie had known she was going to explode if she didn't get out of there. So she had gotten up, springing out of her chair so fast she had almost knocked the ugly, bulky thing over. She had sprinted from the room, knowing they were all looking at her, not caring. What they thought didn't matter. What mattered was that the sun had gone out, the very sun itself, and if she told, her story would be disbelieved only if God was good. If God was in a bad mood, Jessie would be believed... and even if it didn't kill her mother, it would blow the family apart like a stick of dynamite in a rotten pumpkin.”
― Stephen King, Gerald's Game

“Get your whats and whys straight; leave hows to the coach.”
― Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma, Rep By Rep

“Everybody hates something,” I retort. “I don’t like lima beans—am I the Grinch too?”

“It’s not just what you hate; it’s why you hate it,” Mateo replies seriously. “Indiana Jones hates snakes because he’s afraid of them. Superman hates kryptonite because it’s his weakness. The Wicked Witch of the West hates water because it makes her melt. But Mr. Kermit and the Grinch are both haters for the same reason—noise.”
― Gordon Korman, The Unteachables: A Hilarious Novel About a Class of Misfits and Mayhem for Children

“[...] She made me this way. She made me special. She made me beautiful.'
'Why?'
That seemed to baffle her, as if I had to be teasing. She was special. She was beautiful. No further explanation was required.”
― Greg Egan, Axiomatic

“I was so cold and he was so warm. My body felt so tired and weak and he was so solid and…comfortable.
So this was why people liked to cuddle.
Huh.”
― Maggie Dallen, The Prom Kiss

“Before you decide on the what, you need to know your why. To know your why, you need to know yourself. And that, my friends, is an inside job.”
― rich roll, Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself

“My penis was oscillating between extremely sensitive and borderline traumatized.”
― Harry Duke of Sussex

“The most important word in our planet's lexicon is "why." We suspect this is true of other galaxies too.”
― Wisława Szymborska, How to Start Writing (and When to Stop): Advice for Writers

“Why are police body cameras designed to conceal that they are turned off?”
― Steven Magee

“Why do police body cameras not have a visible flashing light to let the public know they are recording?”
― Steven Magee

“I am not sure why you need a bank for storing cash, as they are not paying interest on savings anymore.”
― Steven Magee

“To find meaning at any time or in any area in your life is to find meaning at all times in all areas of your life.”
― Julieanne O'Connor

“Among all the thinking that human beings do, the question "Why?" has always been predominant. Undoubtedly it has played an enormous role in helping to bring about what we call progress. But in the course of each day's round of activities at Eiheiji, the question "Why?" is virtually meaningless. Delving into the rationale for every single action would mean that nothing ever got done smoothly. What is essential is to accept without question what you are taught to do, and throw yourself into it entirely. There is no room for subjectivity.”
― Kaoru Nonomura, Eat Sleep Sit: My Year at Japan's Most Rigorous Zen Temple

“Why? Why would God hold me in His arms? Why save me? If there was anyone, He could’ve rightfully left there on that cliff to die, it would’ve been me. I had always been a prodigal, one ruled by darkness, one who wandered, drawn in by wickedness and controlled by corruption. Yet, in the same way the father ran to enrapture the prodigal son in his loving embrace, God was now enveloping me.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“The answer to any and every ‘why’ is so that we might have a chance to love Him more.”
― rgspmd

“When you are growing the business they will ask you "WHY" you are doing all this work, when you are successful they will ask you "HOW" you did it!”
― Laura Leigh Guillaume

“And he said...

...reasons may yet justify means.”
― Anthony T. Hincks

“If we understand the analysis of how and why, problems will not cause problems.”
― Kamaran Ihsan Salih

“Tyler is watching me like I'm his favorite Netflix show.”
― Chelsea Ichaso, Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets

“This is going to be so much worse than that', I saw like an archvillian.”
― Chelsea Ichaso, Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets

“Know why you’re doing what you’re doing and the why beneath that.”
― Jamie Kern Lima, Believe It: How to Go from Underestimated to Unstoppable

“Knowing your why could be what keeps you going in the face of rejection.”
― Jamie Kern Lima, Believe It: How to Go from Underestimated to Unstoppable

“Once you know why, you'll know how to find a solution.”
― Mitta Xinindlu

“People mess up. We lie, exaggerate, betray, hurt, and abandon each other. When we hear that this has happened, it makes sense to feel anger, pain, confusion, and sadness. But to move immediately to punishment means that we stay on the surface of what has happened.

To transform the conditions of the "wrongdoing", we have to ask ourselves and each other, "Why?"

Even--especially--when we are scared of the answer.

It's easy to decide a person or group is shady, evil, psychopathic. The hard truth (hard because there's no quick fix) is that long-term injustice creates most evil behavior. The percentage of psychopaths in the world is just not high enough to justify the ease with which we assign that condition to others.

In my mediations, "why?" is often the game-changing, possibility-opening question. That's because the answers rehumanize those we feel are perpetuating against us. "Why?" often leads us to grief, abuse, trauma, mental illness, difference, socialization, childhood, scarcity, loneliness.

Also, "Why?" makes it impossible to ignore that we might be capable of a similar transgression in similar circumstances.

We don't want to see that.”
― Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

“Why the question Why became the answer for the question What is the question without the Answer?”
― Zack Dfrnt, WHY?: 30 Quotes to think WHY?

“We’ve lost our grip. They’ve refused our fiat banking system and banned our chemically altered food.”
― C. R. Stewart

“How can my voice resound
within such an abyss,
when myriad others cry,
their utterances lost in the chaos?

I am but a wisp among the multitude,
struggling to be noticed,
yet so negligible in the vastness.

The crushing weight
of existence bears heavy,
and I ponder, how might I ascend?”
― Nyx Thorn, Verses of the Broken: Echoes From A Fractured Mind

“Start with Why.”
― Simon Sinek, Find Your Why / Start With Why / The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People