Uncertainty Quotes - Page 23

• When, therefore, I had long considered this uncertainty of traditional mathematics, it began to weary me that no more definite explanation of the movement of the world-machine established in our behalf by the best and most systematic builder of all, existed among the philosophers who had studied so exactly in other respects the minutest details in regard to the sphere.

  Nicolaus Copernicus

  Long, Details, Machines

  "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (Preface Letter to Pope Paul III)". Book by Nicolaus Copernicus, 1543.

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• A hero is also someone who, in their day to day interactions with the world, despite all the pain, uncertainty and doubt that can plague us, is resiliently and unashamedly themselves. If you can wake up every day and be emotionally open and honest regardless of what you get back from the world then you can be the hero of your own story. Each and every person who can say that despite life’s various buffetings that they are proud to be the person they are is a hero.

  Daniel Radcliffe

  Pain, Hero, Doubt

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• The Law of Detachment: 1) Allow yourself and others the freedom to be who they are. 2) Do not force solutions - allow solutions to spontaneously emerge. 3) Uncertainty is essential, and you path to freedom.

  Deepak Chopra

  Law, Essentials, Path

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• War is the realm of uncertainty; three-quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty. ... war is the realm of chance. No other human activity gives it greater scope; no other has such incessant and varied dealings with this intruder. Chance makes everything more uncertain and interferes with the whole course of events.

  Carl von Clausewitz

  War, Fog, Giving

  Carl von Clausewitz, Michael Howard, Peter Paret (1989). “On War”, p.101, Princeton University Press

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• What if rather than being disheartened by the ambiguity, the uncertainty of life, we accepted it and relaxed into it?

  Pema Chodron

  What If, Accepted, Uncertainty Of Life

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• Science deals in evidence and uncertainty. Religion deals in certainty without evidence.

  David Milne

  Certainty, Evidence, Deals

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• It is the glorious uncertainty of golf that makes it the game it is.

  P. G. Wodehouse

  Golf, Games, Glorious

  P. G. Wodehouse (2011). “The Clicking of Cuthbert”, p.43, The Floating Press

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• Life on earth, filled with uncertainty and change, seemed far more difficult than what lay beyond the grave.

  Jane Hamilton

  Earth, Graves, Difficult

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• Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind. And everyone here will ultimately be judged - will ultimately judge himself - on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort.

  Robert Kennedy

  Men, Goal, Interesting

  Robert F. Kennedy's Day of Affirmation Address at the University of Capetown, South Africa, www.mtholyoke.edu. June 6, 1966.

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• I was not raised with religion, and I had no faith before my mother died. On the other hand, when she died, I did not immediately feel she was "gone." I don't believe she is in something like heaven, but I also feel that we don't understand much about the nature of the universe. So I hold on to that uncertainty, at times.

  Meghan O'Rourke

  Mother, Believe, Hands

  "Ask the Author Live: Meghan O'Rourke on Grief". Live chat, www.newyorker.com. March 2, 2011.

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• The basic gamut of civil and political rights in terms of disappearances, detainees, people who are surrendered, what happened the missing. Any talk about allegations of war crimes. Those are the kind of thing that lead to a great deal of fear and uncertainty.

  Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu

  War, Rights, People

  Source: www.sbs.com.au

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• I think as a consequence of that, there is also a fair amount of uncertainty about engaging in political activity that would be immediately suspect and seen as evidence as a sort of resurgent militancy.

  Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu

  Thinking, Political, Would Be

  Source: www.sbs.com.au

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• As a writer I have persisted in my uncertainty, alternating between novels which could charitably be considered literature and world reporting which by another stretch of objective standards might be called history.

  James A. Michener

  Literature, World, Might

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• The only reason you do not do great things is because you timidly cling to small things.  Will you let loose of small things and bear the uncertainty of having nothing for a while?  Do this and eventually you will do great things.

  Vernon Howard

  Bears, Reason, Great Things

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• In practice, some come to see easily, some with difficulty. But whatever the case, never mind. Difficult or easy, the Buddha said not to be heedless. Just that--don't be heedless. Why? Because life is not certain. Wherever we start to think that things are certain, uncertainty is lurking right there. Heedlessness is just holding things as certain. It is grasping at certainty where there is no certainty and looking for truth in things that are not true. Be careful! They are likely to bite you sometime in the future!

  Ajahn Chah

  Thinking, Practice, Mind

  Ajahn Chah (2001). “Being Dharma: The Essence of the Buddha's Teachings”, p.9, Shambhala Publications

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• Improvisation and new learning are not private processes; they are shared with others at every age. We are called to join in a dance whose steps must be learned along the way, so it is important to attend and respond. Even in uncertainty, we are responsible for our steps.

  Mary Catherine Bateson

  Important, Age, Way

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• Four elements make up the climate of war: danger, exertion, uncertainty and chance.

  Carl von Clausewitz

  War, Four Elements, Climate

  Carl von Clausewitz (2008). “On War”, p.104, Princeton University Press

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• No decision-making system is going to guarantee corporate success. The strategic decisions that corporations have to make are of mind-numbing complexity. But we know that the more power you give a single individual in the face of complexity and uncertainty, the more likely it is that bad decisions will get made.

  James Surowiecki

  Giving, Decision, Mind

  James Surowiecki (2005). “The Wisdom of Crowds”, p.220, Anchor

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• Uncertainty would be the only certainty there's, and realizing how to stay with insecurity could be the only protection

  John Allen Paulos

  Insecurity, Would Be, Realizing

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• I cannot too greatly emphasize the importance and value of Bible study - more important than ever before in these days of uncertainties, when men and woman are apt to decide questions from the standpoint of expediency rather than the eternal principles laid down by God, Himself.

  John Wanamaker

  Men, Important, Principles

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• I do believe that there is a conflict between science and religion ... the spirit or attitude toward the facts is different in religion from what it is in science. The uncertainty that is necessary in order to appreciate nature is not easily correlated with the feeling of certainty in faith.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Attitude, Believe, Order

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• Over a very small number of rolls of the dice, the uncertainty principle is very important.

  Stephen Hawking

  Uncertainty Principle, Small Numbers, Important

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• I recently found myself going through a period of uncertainty about my future as a performer, my status as a personality, the believability of my Christian witness and the knowledge of God's will in my life. I felt a force bigger than myself saying, 'Lay back. Take it easy. Study hard. Read your bible. Think, write and keep your mouth shut for awhile.'

  Johnny Cash

  Christian, Writing, Thinking

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• The cliché of the 'Eureka!' moment easily obscures the doubt and uncertainty that are also part of the discovery process.

  Janet Maslin

  Discovery, Doubt, Moments

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• Embrace the wisdom of uncertainty.

  Deepak Chopra

  Embrace

  "What’s the Secret to a Happy Life?". Interview with Oprah, www.oprah.com. May 15, 2012.

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