Riddles

Puzzles, Paradoxes, Jokes, Humor, Thought Provoking Questions

Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo, M.S.

Green Way Research, Valley Spirit Center, Gushen Grove, Red Bluff, California

"A friend's son was in the first grade of school, and his teacher asked the class, "What is the color of apples?" Most of the children answered red. A few said green. Kevin, my friend's son, raised his hand and said white. The teacher tried to explain that apples could be red, green or sometimes golden, but never white. Kevin was quite insistent and finally said, "Look inside." Perception without mindfulness keeps us on the surface of things, and we often miss other levels of reality."
- Joseph Goldstein, Insight Meditation

The Master once proposed a riddle: "What do the artist and the musician have in common with the mystic?"
Everyone gave up.
"The realization that the finest speech does not come from the tongue," said the Master.

"Alexander captured ten of the Gymnosophists who had done most to get Sabbas to revolt, and had made the most trouble for the Macedonians. These philosophers were reputed to be clever and concise in answering questions, and Alexander therefore put difficult questions to them, declaring that he would put to death him who first made an incorrect answer, and then the rest, in an order determined in like manner; and he commanded one of them, the oldest, to be the judge in the contest. The first one, accordingly, being asked which, in his opinion, were more numerous, the living or the dead, said that the living were, since the dead no longer existed. The second, being asked whether the earth or the sea produced larger animals, said the earth did, since the sea was but a part of the earth. The third, being asked what animal was the most cunning, said: "That which up to this time man has not discovered." The fourth, when asked why he had induced Sabbas to revolt, replied: "Because I wished him either to live nobly or to die nobly." The fifth, being asked which, in his opinion, was older, day or night, replied: "Day, by one day"; and he added, upon the king expressing amazement, that hard questions must have hard answers. Passing on, then, to the sixth, Alexander asked how a man could be most loved; "If," said the philosopher, "he is most powerful, and yet does not inspire fear." Of the three remaining, he who was asked how one might become a god instead of man, replied: "By doing something which a man cannot do"; the one who was asked which was the stronger, life or death, answered: "Life, since it supports so many ills." And the last, asked how long it were well for a man to live, answered: "Until he does not regard death as better than life." So, then, turning to the judge, Alexander bade him give his opinion. The judge declared that they had answered one worse than another. "Well, then," said Alexander, "thou shalt die first for giving such a verdict." "That cannot be, O King," said the judge, "unless thou falsely said that thou wouldst put to death first him who answered worst." These philosophers, then, he dismissed with gifts...

— Plutarch, Life of Alexander the Great, "The Parallel Lives", 64-65.

What is greater than God, more evil than the devil, the poor have it, the rich need it, and if you eat it, you'll die?
Nothing.

Who makes it, has no need of it. Who buys it, has no use for it. Who uses it can neither see nor feel it. What is it?
A coffin.

What is it that's always coming but never arrives?
Tomorrow.

Malapropisms from Yogi Berra Found in a Cloud Hands Blog Post by Mike Garofalo: Its Over When It Ends

Pulling Onions by Mike Garofalo

Brothers and sisters I have none but this man's father is my father's son. Who is the man?
The man is my son.

There was a green house. Inside the green house there was a white house. Inside the white house there was a red house. Inside the red house there were lots of babies. What is it?
A watermelon.

Which word in the dictionary is spelled incorrectly?
Incorrectly.

What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?
A stamp.

Which creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?
Man. He crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and then walks with a cane as an old man.

"It takes a little talent to see clearly what lies under one's nose, a good deal of it to know in which direction to point that organ."
- W. H. Auden

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."
- Edgar Degas

Children's Riddles

Who is the penguins favorite aunt? Antarctica.

What room can no one enter? A mushroom.

What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries? A towel.

Riddles, Puzzles, Paradoxes, Jokes, Humor, Thought Provoking Questions

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Brain Den

Cloud Hands Blog

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons

Virtue Ethics