Quotes About Conviction

The person who lives in the ethical sphere lives intentionally, intensively. Such a person possesses character and conviction, and is thus willing to sacrifice himself for something greater than oneself.

People had not so much as the courage and honesty and truth to say to God bluntly, That I cannot agree to, they resorted to hypocrisy and thought they were perfectly secure. pp 168-6

Believe a woman, you will regret it, believe her not, you will also regret that; believe a woman or believe her not, you will regret both; whether you believe a woman or believe her not, you will regret both. ... This, gentlemen, is the sum and substance of all philosophy.

In every generation that man is a rarity who exercises such a power over himself that he can will what is not pleasant to him, that he can hold fast that truth which does not please him, hold that it is the truth although it does not please him, hold that it is the truth precisely because it does not please him, and then nevertheless, in spite of the fact that it does not please him, can commit himself to it. pp 151-2

Doubt is conquered by faith, just as it is faith which has brought doubt into the world.

Solo hay un camino para asegurarse nunca ser engañado, y ese es el de creerlo todo amorosamente.

El caballero de la fe tiene una clara conciencia de la imposibilidad; por lo tanto, sólo le puede salvar el absurdo, y lo aprehende por medio de la fe.

Compel a person to an opinion, a conviction, a belief - in all eternity, that I cannot do. But one thing I can do: I can compel him to become aware.

In some matters, he said, it is better to be intellectually uncertain rather than superficially sure. This will still leave us with a great deal to be certain about, while maintaining a humility to learn.

His grandmother had said to him once, smiling slightly, that if you compelled people to behave as if they believed something eventually all but the strongest-willed really did start to believe it, because it was easier on their pride than admitting every moment in the privacy of their soul that they were pretending.

Question: What is the opposite of faith? Not disbelief. Too final, certain, closed. Itself is a kind of belief. Doubt.

A people that has remained convinced of its greatness and invulnerability, that has chosen to believe such a myth in the face of all the evidence, is a people in the grip of a kind of sleep, or madness.

When you know what you're against you have taken the first step to discovering what you're for.

Where there is no belief, there is no blasphemy.

All true believers have good reasons for disbelieving in every god except their own,' said Birbal, 'and so it is they who, between them, give me all the reasons for believing in none.

All true believers have good reasons for disbelieving in every god except their own," said Birbal, "and so it is they who, between them, give me all the reasons for believing in none." The first minister and the emperor were standing at

In a time of constant transformation, beatitude is the joy that comes with belief, with certainty.

What is the opposite of faith? Not disbelief. Too final, certain, closed. Itself a kind of belief. Doubt.

Question: What is the opposite of faith? Not disbelief. Too final, certain, closed. Itself a kind of belief. Doubt.

True is such a twentieth-century concept. The question is, can I get you to believe it, can I get it repeated enough times to make it as good as true.

All true believers have good reasons for disbelieving in every god except their own," said Birbal, "and so it is they who, between them, give me all the reasons for believing in none.

when he took his stand on the draft, refusing to go to 'Nam, sacrificing his title, risking jail, putting it all on the line for a principle, he became, well, awesome. In those days the word still meant what it was supposed to mean, "inspiring great admiration/awe," and Ali did that.

The fact that my continuous and public rejection of Christianity does not worry me in the least should suggest to you just how inadequate I think your reasons for being a Christian are.

Where we have reasons for what we believe, we have no need of faith; where we have no reasons, we have lost both our connection to the world and to one another.