Can someone explain to me the meaning of this quote?

Question

"No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious." - George Bernard Shaw.

Can anyone explain to me the meaning of that quote please?

Thanks!

Answer 1

when one asks that kind of question, the obvious answer is no enough to him, is neglected..he is looking for different of deeper sense; that is way it is so hard to answer - you must force yourself to follow his way of thinking and searching
we look rather more simple ways - this one is in need of some complications

Answer 2

It means there is a way to get to an answer for every question Everything we now know at some point was unknown to us. We had to make a scientific discovery or have some sort of enlightenment. Even things we think as obvious today were unknown to us at some point. For instance, it's obvious there are other planets out there but before they were discovered no one had a clue they existed. It just took some sort of process to come to the discovery. However, this quote does not address the differences in efforts to answer certain questions.

Answer 3

It means that when a question has an obvious or easy answer, the truth is usually overlooked in favor of a quick and simple ending.

George Bernard Shaw was very political and a lot of his plays reflected his socio-political views and philosophies.

He himself was disappointed that the public often disregarded his prefaces and essays, and only enjoyed his plays as entertainment.

His point in this particular quote was to illustrate his distaste for humanity's "look no further" attitude when faced with a catch-all answer to a difficult question. (SEE: OCCUM'S RAZOR)

His quote, as explained by sociologists, philosophers and experts in British literature, should probably read:

"No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer seems, at first, obvious."

Answer 4

Well, first you logically have to remember that there's no such thing as a stupid question. Also, it's helpful to remember the theory that sometimes the best place to hide things is in plain sight. With those two things in mind, when faced with a really simple question with an obvious answer, human nature is to try and find a more absurd correct answer than what's needed, because we assume the person asking the question can see a possible correct answer right in front of their face, when, sadly, this is not the case.

Answer 5

He likely refers to the fact that it's most difficult to explain things we innately understand and know. Or, he may be referring to the painful nature of truth. Think how hard it is to tell someone something that is so obvious to you or others, but that would potentially be devastating to the person you wish to tell.

Now, why is the sky blue?
Why do dogs chase their tails?
Why do people ask random strangers for answers to their most pressing questions?

Sometimes the answers are obvious, but difficult to put into words.

Answer 6

Why question something when it is right there in front of you.
I think what he was trying to say is that sometimes we as people can't see what is going on around us and ask ourselves questions that we already know the answer to because we are unsure of ourselves but the answer is so obvious to everyone around us. People need to go outside of themselves every once and awhile and view their lives from the way other see it. Then it will not be so difficult to answer the questions we ask.

Answer 7

It seems to mean that a question may appear to have an easy looking and obvious answer , but this answer may not be correct.It is like the famous question where it is asked as to whetrher it is possible to drop an egg on concrete so that it does not break.Obvious answer is , no. But if one looks at the question a bit closely , one finds that the query is about breakage of concrete , not the egg!

Answer 8

We are all used to give in lengthy explanations when it comes to difficult questions but the answers to questions which we feel are obvious is difficult to answer because we have always taken the answers for granted and never lend a thought to its logic or searched for an explanation for the same - hence the difficulty ..
Phew!! that was difficult in answering such an easy question

Answer 9

Shaw is making a psychological point. When we think an answer is obvious, we're not likely to go looking for anything more. The very fact that the answer seems obvious says something about the question, namely that a lot of people haven't gone looking for any other answers.

So what makes this kind of question particularly hard to answer is that we have to break away from the conventional, easy answer first, before we can even be open to looking for another answer or a more complete answer or a more original answer. We have to go against our prejudices, and that's not easy.

Answer 10

It means sometimes it's difficult to break the news to someone who doesn't know the 'answer' to their question but it's obvious and it's hard because you must be the bearer of bad news.... that all in a bad situation which makes it difficult to answer the question.

Answer 11

It is similar to "can't see the forest for the trees". We tend to over solve problems. For example, I have been trying to figure out how to move the special ringer for my Dad's phone to a better visual location (it has a strobe light). I am looking at the living room, stressing over the lack of outlets, having to run cords over doors, etc. Suddenly it dawns on me - the main phone junction in the cellar is all of 4 feet from a pre-drilled hole leading to the living room, exactly where the ringer needs to be. All I have to do is run a short jumper, fish it up and connect the new jack. Its the old "should of had a V8 syndrome.