Slavoj Žižek
Philosopher, Cultural Critic
"What if the way we perceive a problem is already part of the problem?"
What If quotes
What If
507 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Michael Jordan
Professional Basketball Player
"Its better to shoot and miss, then to let time run out and wonder what if"
Elvis Presley
Singer, Actor
"Never wait for tomorrow, what if tomorrow never comes?"
George Carlin
Comedian, Actor
"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"
Cheryl Strayed
Author, Memoirist
"What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was?"
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Topics related to What If
Browse quotes that often appear alongside what if — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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What If quotes (page 1 of 26)
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"What if I fall?', Tim cried. Maerlyn laughed. 'Sooner or later, we all do."
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"What if I was the sexual equivalent of popcorn? Suitable for light snacking only?"
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"But what if I should discover that the least amongst them all, the poorest of all beggars, the most impudent of all offenders, yea the very fiend himself— that these are within me, and that I myself stand in need of the alms of my own kindness, that I myself am the enemy who must be loved— what then?"
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"What if we discover that our present way of life is irreconcilable with our vocation to become fully human?"
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"What if someone gave a war and Nobody came?"
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"Plato says that the unexamined life is not worth living. But what if the examined life turns out to be a clunker as well?"
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"The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is means."
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"Women are always complaining about men's fascination with breasts. But what if men were absolutely indifferent to breasts? What would women do then with these things that serve one function once or twice in a lifetime, and the rest of the time are just in the way?"
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"What if everything that happened here, happened for a reason?"
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"But what if God himself can be simulated, that is to say can be reduced to signs that constitute faith? Then the whole system becomes weightless, it is no longer anything but a gigantic simulacrum - not unreal, but simulacrum, that is to say never exchanged for the real, but exchanged for itself, in an uninterrupted circuit without reference or circumference."
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"What if everything in the world were a misunderstanding, what if laughter were really tears?"
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"But what if pleasure and pain should be so closely connected that he who wants the greatest possible amount of the one must also have the greatest possible amount of the other, that he who wants to experience the "heavenly high jubilation," must also be ready to be "sorrowful unto death"?"
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"What if I’ve forgotten the most important thing? What if somewhere inside me there is a dark limbo where all the truly important memories are heaped and slowly turning into mud?...the thought fills me with an almost unbearable sorrow."
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"What if one of the core elements of a radical Christianity lay in a demand that we betray it, while the ultimate act of affirming God required the forsaking of God? And what if fidelity to the Judeo-Christian scriptures demanded their renunciation? In short, what if the only way of finding faith involved betraying it with a kiss?"
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"Each time I take a role, I'm always nervous about it at the beginning and I'm always afraid what if that, what if this. Every time I take a role and I'm somewhat terrified at the beginning and I get into it and I start working, that's a big win for me. So, really it is stepping forward in the face of whatever fears that I've created for myself and going forward anyway and those are always big moments for me."
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"What if every church in America had a ministry to stand against modern slavery?"
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"If you're going to figure something out, study ethics. You can ask What's the answer? What's Right and Wrong? What I learned is that nobody knows the answer and there is no Right and Wrong. So I'm incapable of becoming a fundamentalist because there are no absolutes, there's always a what if."
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"An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument. Isaac Stern takes good care of his violin. What if everybody jumped on his violin?"
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"But what if all the tranquility, all the comfort, all the contentment were now to come to a horrifying end?"
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"What if what you do to survive kills the things you love?"
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