Quotes About Certitude

No opinion is ever fact.

Stop making me think," Murphy said. "I'm believing over here.

You can believe something really hard,' Faith says, 'and still be wrong.

It is easier to believe than to doubt.

People reasoning on essences may sometimes substitute certitude for probability, even very great probability. But we know nothing about essences and accordingly lose our certitude.

And how reliable can any truth be that is got By observing oneself and then just inserting a Not?

To be cautious, one should not take high confidence as any absolute guarantee of anything.

Logic is a system whereby one may go wrong with confidence.

There's a certain confidence that comes with being sure about the way the world works.

Sheltered by his caste, Sarcellus had not, as the impoverished must, made fear the pivot of his passions. As a result he possessed an immovable self-assurance. He felt. He acted. He judged. The fear of being wrong that so characterized Achamian simply did not exist for Cutias Sarcellus. Where Achamian was ignorant of the answers, Sarcellus was ignorant of the questions. No certitude, she thought, could be greater.

Understanding wasn't always necessary, as long as you believed.

And I mean I never doubt anybody's record.

I had therefore to remove knowledge, in order to make room for belief.

Writing always means hiding something in such a way that it then is discovered; because the truth that can come from my pen is like a shard that has been chipped from a great boulder by a violent impact, then flung far away; because there is no certitude outside falsification.

Perhaps my true vocation was that of author of apocrypha, in the several meanings of the term: because writing always means hiding something in such a way that it then is discovered; because the truth that can come from my pen is like a shard that has been chipped from a great boulder by a violent impact, then flung far away; because there is no certitude outside falsification.

Faith ? acceptance of which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove.

Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believed.

Belief made no difference to the truth.

Belief as such always has doubt at the bottom. It's knowing that makes wizardry work. Only knowing can banish doubt.

Il est toujours fort difficile de dire à quel moment une crainte s'est transformée en certitude et quelle mince donnée supplémentaire a changé la face des choses. On se sentait encore soutenu par un petit souffle d'espérance, dont on ne s'avouait pas le progressif affaiblissement. Et puis, passé un certain cap, on s'aperçoit qu'il n'est plus là et que l'on s'en doutait depuis un bon moment.

This is not a promise, this is not threat, it's just the way it's gonna be!!!

Now, ordinarily, when we say we know something, we can give compelling reasons for it. But when a philosopher says he knows he is holding his hand in front of him, he can give no reason that is as certain as the very thing it is meant to be a reason for. My having two hands is not less certain before I have looked at them than afterwards.

Certitude is seized by some minds, not because there is any philosophical justification for it, but because such minds have an emotional need for certitude.

Believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts.