Certainty Quotes

• The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.

  Erich Fromm

  Block, Power, Men

  Erich Fromm (2013). “Man for Himself: An Inquiry Into the Psychology of Ethics”, p.52, Open Road Media

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• Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security

  John Allen Paulos

  Inspirational, Life, Success

  John Allen Paulos (2007). “A Mathematician Plays The Stock Market”, p.5, Basic Books

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• There is nothing more certain and unchanging than uncertainty and change.

  John F. Kennedy

  Life, Change, Unchanging

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• Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

  Martin Rees

  Science, Vastness, Ontology

  Quoted in Project Cyclops: A Design Study of a System for Detecting Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life, rev. ed., ed. B. M. Oliver and J. Billingham (1973). An earlier version by A. R. Burn appeared in a book review by Burn in The Classical Review, June 1969: "absence of evidence is not identical with evidence of absence."

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• The minute one utters a certainty, the opposite comes to mind.

  May Sarton

  Opposites, Mind, Minutes

  May Sarton (2014). “Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing: A Novel”, p.48, Open Road Media

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• I believe faith is not certainty but the courage to live with uncertainty.

  Jonathan Sacks

  Uncertainty

  "Rabbi Sacks, Faith, and Certainty". www.theguardian.com. September 15, 2010.

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• Certainty is no guarantor of correctness.

  Margaret Heffernan

  Religion, Correctness

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• Scientists do not believe in fundamental and absolute certainties. For the scientist, certainty is never an end, but a search; not the ordering of certainty, but its exploration. For the scientist, certainty represents the highest degree of probability.

  Ashley Montagu

  Believe, Science, Degrees

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• Doubt always coexists with faith, for in the presence of certainty who would need faith at all?

  Philip Yancey

  Doubt, Needs, Coexist

  Philip Yancey (2009). “Reaching for the Invisible God: What Can We Expect to Find?”, p.40, Zondervan

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• One of the best ways of repressing emotions is artificial certainty.

  Stefan Molyneux

  Way, Emotion, Artificial

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• All that passes for knowledge can be arranged in a hierarchy of degrees of certainty, with arithmetic and the facts of perception at the top.

  Bertrand Russell

  Knowledge, Science, Perception

  Bertrand Russell, John G. Slater, Peter Köllner (1997). “Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68”, p.380, Psychology Press

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• In that world, you'll be able to rise in the morning with the spirit you had known in your childhood: that spirit of eagerness, adventure and certainty which comes from dealing with a rational universe.

  Ayn Rand

  Morning, Adventure, Childhood

  Ayn Rand (2016). “Atlas Shrugged”, p.816, Hamilton Books

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• Science does not give us absolute and final certainty. It only gives us assurance within the limits of our mental abilities and the prevailing state of scientific thought.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Giving, Doe, Finals

  Ludwig Von Mises, Israël M. Kirzner (1982). “Method, Process, and Austrian Economics: Essays in Honor of Ludwig Von Mises”, Lexington, Mass. : Lexington Books

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• Certainty is usually a sign of pathology.

  B. W. Powe

  Pathology

  "Mystic Trudeau: The Fire and the Rose". Book by B. W. Powe, 2007.

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• In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.

  Bertrand Russell

  Leadership, Thank You, Thankful

  "Bertrand Russell's Greatest Paradox was His Faith" by Dan Delzell, www.christianpost.com. November 4, 2011.

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• It's not so much religion per se, it's false certainty that worries me, and religion just has more than its fair share of false certainty or dogmatism. I'm really concerned when I see people pretending to know things they clearly cannot know.

  Sam Harris

  Worry, People, Pretending

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• Certainty is the enemy of mankind. If you're certain about everything, you have the Inquisition, you have Nazis and you have - that certainty is something to be guarded about.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Enemy, Nazi, Certain

  "Actor Sir Anthony Hopkins". "The Tavis Smiley show", www.pbs.org. January 27, 2011.

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• There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing.

  Robert Burns

  Inspirational, Uncertainty Of Life, Cockiness

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• Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.

  Voltaire

  Inspirational, Faith, Atheist

  Voltaire (1919). “Voltaire in His Letters: Being a Selection from His Correspondence”

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• To be uncertain is to be uncomfortable, but to be certain is to be ridiculous.

  Socrates

  Ridiculous, Uncertain, Uncomfortable

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• The opposite of faith is not doubt, it’s certainty.

  Anne Lamott

  Opposites, Doubt, Doubt And Certainty

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• Tolerance grows only when faith loses certainty; certainty is murderous.

  Will Durant

  Tolerance, Grows, Loses

  Will Durant (1950). “The Age of Faith: A History of Medieval Civilization -Christian, Islamic, and Judaic - from Constantine to Dante: A.D. 325-1300”

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• The problem with certainty is that it is static; it can do little but endlessly reassert itself. Uncertainty, by contrast, is full of unknowns, possibilities, and risks.

  Stephen Batchelor

  Risk, Littles, Problem

  "Confession of a Buddhist Atheist". Book by Stephen Batchelor, 2010.

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• It is the certainty that they possess the truth that makes men cruel.

  Anatole France

  Wisdom, Math, Men

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