Inquisitiveness. Curiosity. Creativity.
These skills grow when you take the time to think about the tough questions in life.
Even if you do not come up with strong answers to thought provoking questions, the process of thinking about these questions will help gain control over your life.
Kinda funny, that…. questions that make you think causing you to grow as a person.
But it is true. Thought provoking questions will often help you reach epiphanies that can shape and improve your life. If not improving your life on a material basis, at least making your life more meaningful spiritually.
Or let’s put it in the words of a man much wiser than I am. Socrates, “the unexamined life is not worth living.”
This page features that style of thought-provoking question. This article features:
Let’s get to it
Life Questions with No Real Answers
Some questions are hard to ask. Some questions are hard to answer.
Some will make you think. Some questions require no thought at all.
This first batch of questions to make you think are a little bit different.
[Side note: Want more interesting questions? Check out these lists… Deep Questions to ask for: A Friend | A Guy | A Girl | Yourself | Kids ]
They are tough questions. They make you think. But they do not really have an answer. They are just questions that make you question life.
The interesting part is asking them to yourself and seeing where that thinking takes you…
What is the purpose of my existence?
Why is there an exception to every rule?
Will computers ever achieve sentience?
Is the universe finite or infinite?
What shape is the sky?
Can world peace ever be achieved?
Where do thoughts come from?
Why does time exist?
Which is worse, failing or never trying?
What does it take to achieve your dreams?
Which came first: the chicken or the egg?
Do human accomplishments have long-term meaning?
When someone offers you a penny for your thoughts, so you put your two cents in, where does the second penny go?
How much influence does a person’s name have over the course of their life?
Why do I experience pain and suffering?
If life’s short, why do you dwell on things that don’t matter?
Hard to Answer Questions About Your Life
Only you know you.
These questions will make you think yourself. They force a bit of introspection. Why a are you… you? Only by asking these tough questions of yourself can you find out who you really are.
Who most inspired you in life?
Would you lay down your life for another person? Who? Why?
If you could only keep one of your sense which would it be?
How would you rank the following in importance: family, career, love life?
What book influenced you the most?
What important lesson did a close relative teach you?
When was the last time you cried? Why?
What is the difference between living and existing?
Are we all truly free, or are we prisoners to our lives?
Are you more afraid of failure or success, and why?
What do you think is humankind’s greatest invention?
Are there any mistakes you keep making repeatedly?
What thing do you wish your family knew about you?
If you were to die tonight, would you pass away fulfilled or unsatisfied with life?
What annoys you the most?
If you could plan your final words. What would they be?
If you had to get rid of one of your five senses (sight, touch, sound, taste, feeling) which would you choose?
Questions to Make You Think About Yourself and Your Life
These thought-provoking questions are also tough questions to answer. They make you think about your life and your place in the universe. They border in the realm of philosophical questions.
These questions can help you find your place in the universe, or at least force you to think about why you have certain beliefs.
If you won a 10-million-dollar lottery, how would your life be different in 5 years?
What is your favorite animal (real or imaginary)? Why is it your favorite?
How would your life be different if you were born as the opposite gender?
If you knew you would die in 24 hours. What would you do with your last day?
If you knew you would die in a year. What things would you accomplish in your final year?
What goals do you have for 20 years? 40? 50?
What fictional character do you admire most? Why?
Do you like who you are right now?
Is beauty truly in the eye of the beholder?
If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
Would you break the law to save a loved one?
If all of the countries were to merge into a single super country, who should be our ruler?
If you could transport yourself to any time and place in the past 2000 years. What time and place would you choose?
What would you prefer? Being the big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond?
What would you prefer to live without, money or love?
What are three life lessons you learned the hard way?
Do your dreams have a deeper meaning?
How much money per month is enough for you to live comfortably?
Are you true to yourself when surrounded by people with different viewpoints?
What worries you the most about the future?
What are the three things you are most grateful for?
What would you not give up for $1,000,000 in cash?
How would life be different if you were born in a different country?
What would you include in your personal mission statement?
If you could tell your 15-year-old self one thing, what would it be?
What would you consider to be a perfect day?
How old do you feel? Is it very different from your chronological age?
What mistake will you never again make in your life?
Is love at first sight possible?
Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
Would you be happy if you never had to work another day in your life?
Which do you find worse worse? To be overly prideful or overly greedy?
Do you have trouble letting go of the past?
Do you “live to work” or do you “work to live”?
What question do you wish people would ask when they first meet you?
If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
If you like to journal, these year-end reflection questions can help you wrap up your year.
Silly But Thought-Provoking Questions (Questions to Ask When You Are High)
Okay, these questions are silly and frivolous. The types of questions you might expect from someone is really high.
Some of these questions are play on words. Some are simply looking at the staples of our life from a different perspective.
But they are all funny and interesting questions. Let’s go bro.
Funny thought brah….
If you get out of the shower clean, how does a towel get dirty?
Is the S or the C silent in “scent”
If you pay someone to kill you. Is it murder or suicide?
Do you think sand is called sand because it is in between sea and land?
If money is the root of all evil, why do they keep asking for it in church?
How come our noses run, but our feet smell?
How can you park on a driveway and drive on a parkway?
Why is it called a building when it is already built?
Why do we cook bacon and bake cookies?
If someone is born blind and deaf, what language do they see and hear in their minds?
If a group of cats jump on top of one another, is it still called a “dog pile”?
Do clothes in china say, “made here”?
If 55 is “fifty five” and 22 is “twenty two” shouldn’t 11 be “onety one”
Are cup holders just cups for cups?
If time is money, does that make an ATM a time machine?
Why are oranges called “oranges” but lemons are not called “yellows”?
If life is unfair to everyone, doesn't that make life fair?
Why are they called apartments when they are always built together?
If you get scared “half to death” twice, will you die?
What if every country has ninjas but we only know about Japanese ninjas because they are so bad at hiding it?
If you were in a race by yourself, would you finish first or last?
What would you call a fly that lost its wings? A walk?
If it rains on a Sunday, shouldn’t that make it “Rainday”?
If Cinderella’s shoe was a perfect fit, why did it fall off?
If Apple were to make houses, would the houses have Windows?
Are history classes only going to get longer and more difficult as time goes on?
Why are deliveries by ship called “cargo” and deliveries by car called “shipments”?
If you are waiting for a waiter doesn’t that make you the waiter.
What if dogs only fetch because they think that throwing the ball or stick makes you happy?
When butterflies get nervous do they get themselves in their stomachs?
Philosophical Questions to Make You Think
Life, the universe and everything.
Philosophical questions have been plaguing man for thousands of years. People have been asking questions about what makes us “US” and about the pecking order of the universe since well before the time of Plato and Socrates.
This final section of ‘questions to make you think’ features questions of a philosophical nature. Some of these questions are literal in nature. They ask moral philosophical questions that have no, “right” answer.
These questions will show your personal feeling on some tough morality questions.
Other philosophical questions update age old philosophical quandaries to show questions about our modern life and our potential future.
Let’s get to it…
Is free will real or just an illusion?
What gives you your self-worth?
What does it mean to live a good life?
Does power corrupt?
What existed before the universe was created?
Do you contribute to society?
If you could live forever, but you would never be able to die or kill yourself, would you choose this immortality?
Do tough times make us stronger?
Are people inherently good or evil?
Do animals have consciousness?
If freedom of expression is more a benefit to society or can it be a negative?
Should there be limits on free speech?
Is humanity improving with time? Or losing our way?
Would you had a choice to be born again, 100 years ago or 100 years from now. Which would you choose?
Is it better to be intelligent or wise?
Is it easier to love or be loved?
How could humans evolve to become a better species?
Is there order in nature? Or is it all chaos?
Does our language affect our thinking?
Is privacy a right?
Is there such a thing as wasted time?
Does anonymity encourage people to misbehave or does anonymity simple let people act the way they truly desire.
What is evil?
Is technology a net benefit or a net deficit for society?
Is access to information via the internet a human right?
Final Thoughts on Questions That Make You Think
I hope you enjoyed these questions that make you think.
None of the questions here were my original thoughts. They stand on the backs of the thinkers and philosopher that for thousands of years who have been looking at all the things in our world from a slightly different perspective. (If you want to be a better thinker, here's our post on how to develop your independent thinking skills.)
I hope you enjoyed these important life questions. If you have any questions with no answers or any other questions about life, please share your thoughts in the comment below.
If you want to see some more quotes, check out this collection of deep thoughts. Or if you're looking for more questions that can start great conversations, here are some challenging logic questions and some deep philosophical questions to ask. And for something more lighthearted, here's our collection of funny yes or no questions, our list of how well do you know me questions, and this long list of would you rather questions for kids.
Finally, if you want to ask better questions, then watch this short, 20-minute course to learn how to have a great conversation with virtually anyone.
