Uncertain Quotes - Page 23

• Still uncertain as to our identity, we think that what matters in the work world is gaining attention and making friends. And these misconceptions and naïveté are brutally exposed in the light of the real world.

  Robert Greene

  Real, Thinking, What Matters

  Robert Greene (2012). “Mastery”, p.64, Profile Books

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• I always think of it like this: Rather than be the sun to someone and light up everything around them, I want to be the moon and light the way just a little in front of them when they are lost or uncertain in the darkness, and always be there with them when they look up. That’s my way of living.

  Gackt

  Moon, Thinking, Light

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• It has always been the opinion and judgment of wise men that nothing can be so uncertain as fame or power not founded on its own strength.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Wise, Men, Opinion

  Niccolo Machiavelli (2010). “The Prince”, p.56, FastPencil Inc

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• If we consider the actual basis of this information [i.e., intelligence], how unreliable and transient it is, we soon realize that war is a flimsy structure that can easily collapse and bury us in its ruins. ... Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain. This is true of all intelligence but even more so in the heat of battle, where such reports tend to contradict and cancel each other out. In short, most intelligence is false, and the effect of fear is to multiply lies and inaccuracies.

  Carl von Clausewitz

  War, Lying, Battle

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• We see and understand more about our behaviors.  We come aware.  And aware.  And aware. . . Often, we feel uncertain about what to do with all this awareness.

  Melody Beattie

  Awareness, Behavior, Feels

  Melody Beattie (2013). “Melody Beattie 4 Title Bundle: Codependent No More and 3 Other Best Sellers by Melody Beattie: A collection of four Melody Beattie best sellers”, Hazelden Publishing

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• Willow, things feel more uncertain than ever now," He said finally. "But I love you. For as long as I live - if that's fifty years from now, or just next week - I'll love you.

  L.A. Weatherly

  Love You, Next Week, Years

  L.A. Weatherly (2011). “Angel Fire: The Angel Trilogy”, p.344, Usborne Publishing Ltd

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• The man who goes through life with an uncertain doctrine not knowing what he believes, what a poor, powerless creature he is! He goes around through the world as a man goes down through the street with a poor, wounded arm, forever dodging people be meets on the street for fear they may touch him.

  Phillips Brooks

  Believe, Men, Knowing

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• What is certain in death is somewhat softened by what is uncertain; it is an indefiniteness in the time, which holds a certain relation to the infinite, and what is called eternity.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Death, Infinite, Eternity

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• Little do you know what a gloriously uncertain thing law is.

  Plautus

  Law, Littles, Knows

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• Fortune, delighting in her cruel task, and playing her wanton game untiringly, is ever shifting her uncertain favours.

  Horace

  Games, Tasks, Shifting

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• great artists can be uncertain. Of course they are while strugggling to find solutions. Tolstoi's scripts are almost indecipherable. Emily Dickinson provided four or more alternates for every word; Beethoven wrestled with endings to the point of exhaustion; in our day Jerome Robbins and his lack of decision are a byword in the dance profession. But all of these knew very well what they did not want, and what they did not want was the current coin, the well-worn usage. What they wanted was something newly experienced, and therefore unknown and hard to attain.

  Agnes de Mille

  Artist, Decision, Coins

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• All things are so very uncertain, and that's exactly what makes me feel reassured.

  Tove Jansson

  Feels, All Things

  Tove Jansson (2014). “Moominland Midwinter”, p.19, Macmillan

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• I kiss him as the train slides into unlit, uncertain land. I kiss him for as long as I want, for longer than I should, given that my brother sits three feet away from me.

  Veronica Roth

  Brother, Kissing, Land

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• If he wants meaning-the meaning of his dreams, his secrets, his life-a man must reinhabit his past, however dark, and live for the future, however uncertain.

  Jed Rubenfeld

  Dream, Dark, Men

  Jed Rubenfeld (2007). “The Interpretation of Murder: A Novel”, p.7, Macmillan

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• The surest sign that a man has a genuine taste of his own is that he is uncertain of it.

  W. H. Auden

  Men, Taste, Genuine

  "The Dyer's Hand, and Other Essays" by W. H. Auden, ("Reading"), (p. 6), 1962.

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• Life is always uncertain,'he said with a shrug. 'We cannot let the fear of what might happen stop us living as we choose.

  Susanna Kearsley

  Might, Life Is, Said

  Susanna Kearsley (2016). “The Susanna Kearsley Collection”, p.280, Allison & Busby Ltd

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• Uncertain whose the narrowest span,--the clown unread, or half-read gentleman.

  John Dryden

  Reading, Gentleman, Half

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• It may well happen that what is in itself the more certain on account of the weakness of our intelligence, which is dazzled by the clearest objects of nature; as the owl is dazzled by the light of the sun. Hence the fact that some happen to doubt about articles of faith is not due to the uncertain nature of the truths, but to the weakness of human intelligence; yet the slenderest knowledge that may be obtained of the highest things is more desirable than the most certain knowledge obtained of lesser things.

  Thomas Aquinas

  Christian, Light, Doubt

  Saint Thomas Aquinas, Catholic Way Publishing (2014). “The Summa Theologica: Complete Edition”, p.59, Catholic Way Publishing

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• Almighty Power, by whose most wise command, helpless, forlorn, uncertain, here I stand, take this faint glimmer of thyself away, or break into my soul with perfect day!

  John Arbuthnot

  Wise, Prayer, Perfect Days

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• A man's longest purposes will be his best purposes. It is true, life is short and uncertain; but it is better to live on the short arc of a large circle than to describe the whole circumference of a small circle.

  Charles Henry Parkhurst

  Life Is Short, Men, Circles

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• Everyone's future is, in reality, uncertain and full of unknown treasures from which all may draw unguessed prizes.

  Lord Dunsany

  Future, Reality, Treasure

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• There is a story of some mountains of salt in Cumana, which never diminished, though carried away in much abundance by merchants; but when once they were monopolized to the benefit of a private purse, then the salt decreased; till afterward all were allowed to take of it, when it had a new access and increase. The truth of this story may be uncertain, but the application is true; he that envies others the use of his gifts decays then, but he thrives most that is most diffusive.

  Herbert Spencer

  Envy, Generosity, Mountain

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• If I come back to you now, can we be what we were before life’s uncertain rhythms tore us so far apart? If I return today, will your arms gather me in, or will I be wrenched away, snatched by riptide I have no power to resist? If I find my way to you, one man standing in a crowd, will I even know who you are?

  Ellen Hopkins

  Men, Crowds, Arms

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• Sometimes I try my hand at turning out small profundities and uncertain short stories, but I always end up with just one single word: God.

  Etty Hillesum

  God, Hands, Trying

  Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.640, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

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• When Anaxagoras was told of the death of his son, he only said, "I knew he was mortal." So we in all casualties of life should say "I knew my riches were uncertain, that my friend was but a man." Such considerations would soon pacify us, because all our troubles proceed from their being unexpected.

  Plutarch

  Son, Men, Riches

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