Uncertainty Quotes - Page 12

• Our knowledge of circumstances has increased, but our uncertainty, instead of having diminished, has only increased. The reason of this is, that we do not gain all our experience at once, but by degrees; so our determinations continue to be assailed incessantly by fresh experience; and the mind, if we may use the expression, must always be under arms.

  Carl von Clausewitz

  Determination, Expression, Mind

  Carl von Clausewitz (2016). “On War: Vom Kriege: fog of war”, p.36, Aegitas

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• Theirs is the mystery of continuous creation and all that providence implies: the uncertainty of vision, the horror of the fixed, the dissolution of the present, the intricacy of beauty, the pressure of fecundity, the elusiveness of the free, and the flawed nature of perfection.

  Annie Dillard

  Perfection, Vision, Pressure

  Annie Dillard (2016). “The Abundance”, p.100, Canongate Books

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• Let go," he advised me, and I loosened my grip on his hands. "No, not of me," he said, smiling. "You can hold on to me as long as you want. Let go of the pain, Sookie. Let go. You need to drift away." It was the first time I had relinquished my will to someone else. As I looked at him, it became easy, and I retreated from the suffering and uncertainty of this strange place.

  Charlaine Harris

  Letting Go, Pain, Hands

  Charlaine Harris (2003). “Club Dead: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel”, p.113, Penguin

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• They were close enough that he could feel the hurried beat of her heart. He could feel Charlotte's indecision in every word she didn't say and every move she didn't make. She was tense with uncertainty, quivering with irresolution. She might not be leaning into him, but she wasn't pulling away, either.

  Lauren Willig

  Moving, Heart, Might

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• I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong. If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain … In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Science, Opportunity, Thinking

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• I felt the first soft glow of intoxication that makes the blood warmer and spreads an illusion of adventure over uncertainty.

  Erich Maria Remarque

  Adventure, Blood, Firsts

  Erich Maria Remarque (1937). “Three Comrades”

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• The lens of fear magnifies the size of uncertainty.

  Charles R. Swindoll

  Fear, Anxiety, Doubt

  Charles R. Swindoll (2012). “Perfect Trust”, p.30, Thomas Nelson Inc

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• It grants you the power to judge others and feel superior to them. You believe you are living to a higher standard than those you judge. Enforcing rules, especially in more subtle expressions like responsibility and expectation, is a vain attempt to create certainly out of uncertainty. And contrary to what you might think, I have a great fondness for uncertainty. Rules cannot bring freedom; they only have the power to accuse.

  William P. Young

  Believe, Responsibility, Thinking

  "The Shack". Book by William P. Young, books.google.ru. June 20, 2008.

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• I brought Hassan’s son from Afghanistan to America, lifting him from the certainty of turmoil and dropping him in a turmoil of uncertainty

  Khaled Hosseini

  Son, America, Hassan

  Khaled Hosseini (2010). “The Complete Khaled Hosseini: Digital box set”, p.162, A&C Black

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• Just as I do not know where I came from, so I do not know where I am going. All I know is that when I leave this world I shall fall forever into oblivion, or into the hands of an angry God, without knowing which of the two will be my lot for eternity. Such is my state of mind, full of weakness and uncertainty. The only conclusion I can draw from all this is that I must pass my days without a thought of trying to find out what is going to happen to me.

  Blaise Pascal

  Fall, Hands, Two

  Blaise Pascal, James M. Houston (2006). “The Mind on Fire: Faith for the Skeptical and Indifferent”, p.120, David C Cook

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• Riots and comedy are but symptoms of the times, profoundly revealing. They betray the psychological tone, the deep uncertainties....and the striving for something better, plus the fear that nothing would come of it all.

  Frank Herbert

  Tone, Comedy, Psychological

  Frank Herbert (2003). “Dune”, p.431, Penguin

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• You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize As the dead carcasses of unburied men That do corrupt my air, I banish you; And here remain with your uncertainty!

  William Shakespeare

  Hate, Men, Air

  William Shakespeare, George Steevens, Alexander Chalmers, Henry Fuseli (1805). “Timon of Athens. Coriolanus. Julius Caesar. Antony and Cleopatra”, p.191

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• Christians were never meant to be normal. We’ve always been holy troublemakers, we’ve always been creators of uncertainty, agents of dimension that’s incompatible with the status quo; we do not accept the world as it is, but we insist on the world becoming the way that God wants it to be. And the Kingdom of God is different from the patterns of this world.

  Jacques Ellul

  Change, God, Christian

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• Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing...Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation.

  Oswald Chambers

  Sadness, Mean, Expression

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• The truth is, we value your company, for want of any other. We have been left so much to our own devices—after a while one welcomes the uncertainty of being left to other people's.

  Tom Stoppard

  People, Want, Truth Is

  Tom Stoppard (2013). “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”, p.56, Faber & Faber

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• Voldemort is playing a very clever game. Declaring himself might have provoked open rebellion. Remaining masked has created confusion, uncertainty, and fear.

  J. K. Rowling

  Clever, Fear, Games

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• I'm tired of being scared, and I know you are too. Not that there isn't alot to be scared of in this world today, between the non-stop headlines about wars and nuclear power plants and terrorists and assasinations and civil unrest and economic uncertainty and political doublespeak and insane weather and an environment that's becoming unhealthier by the day. But a point comes when it's too much to deal with, and thinking about it accomplishes nothing more than sending you to bed with a cold cloth on your head.

  Sylvia Browne

  War, Tired, Thinking

  Sylvia Browne, Lindsay Harrison (2010). “End Of Days: Predictions and prophecies about the end of the world”, p.6, Hachette UK

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• Uncertainty is a quality to be cherished, therefore – if not for it, who would dare to undertake anything?

  Auguste de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam

  Quality, Dare, Ifs

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• Those who believe they believe in God, but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself.

  Madeleine L'Engle

  God, Atheist, Believe

  Madeleine L'Engle (2016). “Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art”, p.30, Convergent Books

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• In a world beyond this one, that river goes on singing sweetly, enchanting us with what we want to hear, shaping what we need to see in order to keep going. In those waters, all disappointments are forgotten, our mistakes forgiven. Gazing into them, we see a strong father. A loving mother. Warm rooms where we are sheltered, adored, wanted. And the uncertainty of our futures is nothing more than the fog of breath on a windowpane.

  Libba Bray

  Mother, Strong, Disappointment

  Libba Bray (2015). “The Gemma Doyle Trilogy”, p.337, Delacorte Press

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• If I am capable of grasping God objectively, I do not believe, but precisely because I cannot do this I must believe. If I wish to preserve myself in faith I must constantly be intent upon holding fast the objective uncertainty so as to remain out upon the deep, over seventy thousand fathoms of water, still preserving my faith.

  Soren Kierkegaard

  Believe, Water, Wish

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• The green thumb is equable in the face of nature's uncertainties; he moves among her mysteries without feeling the need for control or explanations or once-and-for-all solutions. To garden well is to be happy amid the babble of the objective world, untroubled by its refusal to be reduced by our ideas of it, its indomitable rankness.

  Michael Pollan

  Moving, Garden, Ideas

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• I can't be overwhelmingly happy. I'm never free for a moment day and night from the uncertainty in which we live these days, which excludes any carefree plans for tomorrow and casts a shadow over all the days to come.

  Sophie Scholl

  Night, Shadow, Tomorrow

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• I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I'll certainly try to forget the fact.

  Oscar Wilde

  Believe, Essence, Romance

  Oscar Wilde (2004). “The Best of Oscar Wilde: Selected Plays and Writings”, p.250, Penguin

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• The bittersweetness of uncertainty: To win or to lose.

  Markus Zusak

  Winning, Jew, Loses

  Markus Zusak (2014). “Markus Zusak: The Book Thief & I Am the Messenger”, p.194, Knopf Books for Young Readers

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