Certainty Quotes - Page 8

• For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.

  Vincent Van Gogh

  Inspirational, Dream, Stars

  Vincent van Gogh, Rachel Barnes (1990). “Van Gogh by Vincent”

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• We desire truth, and find within ourselves only uncertainty. We seek happiness, and find only misery and death. We cannot but desire truth and happiness, and are incapable of certainty or happiness.

  Blaise Pascal

  Desire, Misery, Incapable

  Blaise Pascal (2015). “Pensees: Thoughts on Religion”, p.136, Letcetera Publishing

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• The search for the lessons of the new science is still in progress, really in its infancy. In this realm, three is a new kind of freedom, where it is more rewarding to explore than to reach conclusions, more satisfying to wonder than to know, and more exciting to search than to stay put. Curiosity, not certainty, becomes the saving grace.

  Margaret J. Wheatley

  Learning, Grace, Curiosity

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• Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.

  Charles Darwin

  Inspirational, Confidence, Atheist

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.6343, Delphi Classics

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• It is far better to foresee even without certainty than not to foresee at all.

  Henri Poincare

  Absolute Certainty, Foreseeing, Foreseen

  The Foundations of Science Science and Hypothesis (p. 129)

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• A bird in the hand is a certainty, but a bird in the bush may sing.

  Bret Harte

  Inspirational, Hands, Bird

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  I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections, and the truth of imagination.

  John Keats

  Inspirational, Truth, Lying

  Letter to Benjamin Bailey, 22 Nov. 1817

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• The only certainty is death.

  Guy de Maupassant

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• As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Funny, Wisdom

  Address to Prussian Academy of Sciences, Berlin, 27 Jan. 1921

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• If one has the answers to all the questions - that is the proof that God is not with him. It means that he is a false prophet using religion for himself. The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt. You must leave room for the Lord, not for our certainties; we must be humble.

  Pope Francis

  Humble, Mean, People

  "A Big Heart Open to God: An interview with Pope Francis". Interview with Antonio Spadaro, S.J., www.americamagazine.org. September 30, 2013.

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• In this quest to seek and find God in all things, there is still an area of uncertainty. There must be. If a person says that he met God with total certainty and is not touched by a margin of uncertainty, then this is not good.

  Pope Francis

  Quests, Mets, Persons

  Pope Francis (2014). “My Door Is Always Open: A Conversation on Faith, Hope and the Church in a Time of Change”, p.97, A&C Black

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• Inquiry is fatal to certainty.

  Will Durant

  Learning, Acceptance, Science

  Will Durant (2011). “The Age of Faith: The Story of Civilization”, p.1077, Simon and Schuster

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• Whether gods exist or not, there is no way to get absolute certainty about ethics. Without absolute certainty, what do we do? We do the best we can.

  Richard Stallman

  Way, Ethics, Absolute Certainty

  "Thus Spake Stallman". Slashdot.org Interview, slashdot.org. May 01, 2000.

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• The certainties of one age are the problems of the next.

  R. H. Tawney

  Art, Philosophy, Science

  R. H. Tawney (2016). “Religion And The Rise Of Capitalism”, p.238, Verso Books

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• A barrell full of certainties won't roll very far.

  Gerd de Ley

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• The court was unable to rule on all circumstances in which nuclear weapons might be used, and it said in view of the problems, the risks posed by nuclear weapons, and in view of the lack of certainty of the law in all circumstances, the best course is fulfilling the obligation of good faith negotiations of nuclear disarmament contained in the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

  John Burroughs

  Views, Law, Nuclear Disarmament

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• The person with the most certainty in a given situation will influence the other.

  Tony Robbins

  Influence, Given, Situation

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• Science is the outcome of being prepared to live without certainty and therefore a mark of maturity. It embraces doubt and loose ends.

  A.C. Grayling

  Science, Maturity, Doubt

  "This much I know". Interview with Tim Adams, www.theguardian.com. July 4, 2009.

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• Of Virginia Woolf: The talent of this generation which is most certain of survival.

  Rebecca West

  Virginia, Survival, This Generation

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• Hope is not a feeling of certainty that everything ends well. Hope is just a feeling that life and work have a meaning.

  Vaclav Havel

  Feelings, Ends, Wells

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• The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

  William Butler Yeats

  Passionate, Doubt And Certainty, Anarchy

  "The Second Coming" l. 1 (1921)

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• The existence of a first cause of the universe is a necessity of thought ... Amid the mysteries which become more mysterious the more they are thought about, there will remain the one absolute certainty that we are over in the presence of an Infinite, Eternal Energy from which all things proceed.

  Herbert Spencer

  Science, Energy, Firsts

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• Facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts do not go away while scientists debate rival theories for explaining them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's, but apples did not suspend themselves in mid-air pending the outcome.

  Stephen Jay Gould

  Science, Ideas, Apples

  "Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History". Book by Stephen Jay Gould. "Evolution as Fact and Theory", pp. 254 - 55, 1983.

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• Criticism, though dignified from the earliest ages by the labours of men eminent for knowledge and sagacity, has not yet attained the certainty and stability of science.

  Samuel Johnson

  Knowledge, Science, Men

  Samuel Johnson (1827). “The Rambler”, p.27

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• Clearly it is not reason that has failed. What has failed-as it has always failed-is the attempt to achieve certainty, to reach an absolute, to find the course of human events to a final end. It is not reason that has promised to eliminate risk in human undertakings; it is the emotional needs of men.

  Allen Wheelis

  Men, Emotional, Risk

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