Why is there something, rather than nothing?

I remember hearing or reading something years ago that has stayed with me. I think I may have read it in a college textbook for one of the philosophy courses I took. What I had read was something like, ...a major contribution of much German philosophy to rational thought/analysis of the world is, why is there something at all; why not nothing? I think the quote had come from a British philosopher. I remember being impressed by this statement and thinking that German thought must be profound indeed, to ask such a question, which places the human agent in a godlike position, questioning, not reality, but the basis of reality. What is the basis of reality? Wouldn't you like very much to answer this question?