answer

And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him

Matthew 3:15, KJV

And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Matthew 13:10-11, KJV

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

Matthew 22:41-46, KJV

But the better is the inner, for to it as presiding and judging, all the bodily messengers reported the answers of heaven and earth, and all things therein, who said, "We are not God, but He made us." These things did my inner man know by the ministry of the outer: I the inner knew them; I, the mind, through the senses of my body.

Augustine, Confessions

Every where, O Truth, do You give audience to all who ask counsel of You, and at once answer all, though on manifold matters they ask Your counsel.

Augustine, Confessions

I answer not as one is said to have done merrily (eluding the pressure of the question), "He was preparing hell (says he) for pryers into mysteries." It is one thing to answer enquiries, another to make sport of enquirers.

Augustine, Confessions

My questioning them, was my thoughts on them: and their form of beauty gave the answer. And I turned myself unto myself, and said to myself, "Who are You?" And I answered, "A man." And behold, in me there present themselves to me soul, and body, one without, the other within.

Augustine, Confessions

Thine is the grace of answer, and thine is the knowledge of question.

Rumi

Why dost thou neigh, O spirited steed, Why thy neck so low, Why thy mane unshaken Why thy bit not gnawed? Do I then not fondle thee? Thy grain to eat art thou not free? Is not thy harness ornamented, Is not thy rein of silk, Is not thy shoe of silver, Thy stirrup not of gold? The steed in sorrow answer gives: Hence am I quiet Because the distant tramp I hear, The trumpet's blow and the arrow's whizz

Pushkin, The Horse

A philosopher observed to him: "This is an unfit sport for you, whose dwelling is made of straw." Utter not a word till thou knowest that it is the mirror of what is correct; and do not put a question where thou knowest that the answer must be unfavorable

Saadi, Gulistan

I saw on the seashore a holy man who had been torn by a tiger, and could get no salve to heal his wound. For a length of time he suffered much pain, and was all along offering thanks to the Most High. They asked him, saying, "Why are you so grateful?" He answered, "God be praised that I am overtaken with misfortune and not with sin!

Saadi, Gulistan

They asked Lucman, the fabulist, "From whom did you learn manners?" He answered, "From the unmannerly, for I was careful to avoid whatever part of their behavior seemed to me bad!"

Saadi, Gulistan

Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure; Like doth quit like, and measure still for measure

Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act 5, Scene 1

Each one demand an answer to his part Perform'd in this wide gap of time since first We were dissever'd

Shakespeare, Winter's Tale, Act 5, Scene 3

How like Eve's apple doth thy beauty grow, If thy sweet virtue answer not thy show.

Shakespeare, Sonnet 93