Asks Quote by Ouida

A pipe is the fountain of contemplation, the source of pleasure, the companion of the wise; and the man who smokes, thinks like a…

— Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

The pipe draws wisdom from the lips of the philosopher, and shuts up the mouth of the foolish; it generates a style of conversation,…

— William Makepeace Thackeray

A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth.

— C. S. Lewis

An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher. The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity,…

— Anonymous

A plumber is an adventurer who traces leaky pipes to their source.

— Arthur Baer

The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have…

— John W. Gardner

An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher.

— John W. Gardner

Socrates, you will remember, asked all the important questions - but he never answered any of them

— Dickinson Richards

I've always argued that it is just as desirable, just as possible, to have philosopher plumbers as philosopher kings.

— Edith Green

Socrates was a philosopher. He went around pointing out errors in the way things were done. They fed him hemlock.

— Gil Amelio

Socrates worked towards making people question themselves. He like to provoke self-interrogation but wasn't particularly interested in the answers that emerged; he just like…

— Eric Cantona

Go back to classical times, say classical Greece. Who drank the hemlock? Was it someone who was conforming, obeying the gods? Or was it…

— Noam Chomsky