Back in the mid 80's when I was just a pup, I had a boss who had this expression as his favourite saying and he also had a policy when one of his underlings (such as myself) would steel themselves and knock on his office door because they had a question that they sought his advice on.
Dell the Boss would look up from his huge desk and say something along the lines of 'What?'
When you explained your problem to him and asked him for his opinion he would always do the same thing, he would tell you to open your wallet and put a $1 bill on the desk in front of him and then he would put his huge, baseball mitt sized hand over the bill and say the following words.
'Here are the rules, if the question you are about to ask is a stupid question that you could reasonably figure out for yourself but you are just too lazy or too stupid to do this, then I will give you the answer but it will cost you the dollar. If the question is genuinely outside of the scope of your abilities and require the expertise that I have paid dearly for through the experience that the school of hard knocks has given me then you will get your answer and your dollar bill back. However, if the question was valid but I have already gone through this process with you on this question and you were just too lazy or stupid to remember the answer to the question that I have already provide to you, then you lose your dollar.
Dell was right, knowledge comes with a price and if we don't value the price then it become worthless and we fall into complacency and darkness. I still think he was a prick but over time I came to respect him and not fear him.