There are no dumb questions, but the best questions are ignorant questions.

A decade ago, when my daughter was only three, she wasn’t very knowledgeable about the world—she didn’t know a thing about geometry, geography, or game theory—and yet she taught me to be smarter.

Every time she asked a seemingly silly question—Where does the sun go at night? What happens to us before we’re born? Why do people have to go to work?—her curiosity forced me to pause and reconsider what I thought I knew.

The smartest adults I know are equally curious. They ask ignorant questions despite their culture’s fear of judgment, scorn, or ridicule:

Why do we need to be busy?
How do I know when I have enough?
What if I’m wrong?

Their ignorance is their strength.

At three, my daughter wasn’t worried about sounding smart. She simply wanted to understand.

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