Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel)

Start Free Trial

Editor's Choice

What does the quote "Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple" mean?

Quick answer:

The quote "Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple," commonly attributed to Dr. Seuss, means that we often overcomplicate our questions due to anxiety and the fear of making irreversible decisions. In reality, the solutions to these complex questions are often straightforward, but we tend to overlook them by focusing on trivial details or the stress of modern life.

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

I'm unsure of which work this quote comes from, or if it comes from one at all. It is, however, commonly attributed to Dr. Seuss. The quote seems to mean not that questions are inherently complicated, but that it is simply part of the human condition to endlessly complicate them ourselves.

When we come to a crossroads in our lives, often times we know the decision that truly needs to be made. Serious decisions, however, are life-altering and often cannot be taken back. The anxiety and dread that comes along with this can often lead us to weigh even the most trivial aspects of a question to no end, at best to ensure we make the right decision and at worst to procrastinate making the decision altogether.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

This is a quote that is attributed to the children's author Dr. Seuss.  The meaning of the quote is that sometimes we make...

Unlock
This Answer Now

Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.

Get 48 Hours Free Access

our lives too complicated and we fail to realize that there are simple answers to questions that seem complicated.

In the modern world, our lives tend to seem very complicated and stressful.  We often have a hard time dealing with all the things that we need (or think we need) to do each day.  Scheduling our lives and dealing with those schedules can seem very complicated.  However, it might be that there is a simple answer to the problem.  It might be that we need to simply do fewer things.  This would be an example of a simple answer to a question that seems complicated.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

This quote appears in  The Lucky One movie.  It originally appears as a quote from Dr. Seuss in a motivational-type book Looking Tall by Standing Next to Short People, And Other Techniques for Managing a Law Firm (2007) by H. Edward Wesemann.

I believe the quote addresses man's never-ending quest to complicate things needlessly. We try to ask these really difficult questions in order to understand the world around us and in doing so, we miss the point about what is really important; those simple answers, the simple things in life should be our focus. 

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

I agree.  This means that oftentimes we know what the problem is, but we don't know what the solution is.  In other words, we can see where we need to go, but we don't know how to get there.  Life is full of simple, meaningful and completely unanswerable questions.  What is the meaning of life?  It's also full of difficult questions with far-ranging effects: Am I in love?

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

I am not aware of which Dr. Seuss book this quote comes from, but it seems to me that this question relates to the way in which often we can ask ourselves questions to which we know the answer, and to which the answer is actually quite simple, but the process of asking the question makes us appreciate how complicated the issue is. Let us take an example to demonstrate what I am talking about. Often in relationships, a relationship will reach a stage where we know that we have to end it. However, the question "Should I end it?" is actually far more complicated than the answer, which is "Yes." With such questions, our emotions make the question so much more complicated that it needs to be, and helps distract us from the simple answer and the way that we have to act in response.

Approved by eNotes Editorial