Quotes About Doubt

Because we are creatures of habit, we need to practice acting in spite of fear, in spite of doubt, in spite of worry, in spite of uncertainty, in spite of inconvenience, in spite of discomfort, and even to practice acting when we're not in the mood to act.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me.

We ask only to be reassured About the noises in the cellar And the window that should not have been open

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?

Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent To lead you to an overwhelming question...

We know too much, and are convinced of too little. Our literature is a substitute for religion, and so is our religion.

What profession is more trying than that of author? After you finish a piece of work it only seems good to you for a few weeks; or if it seems good at all you are convinced that it is the last you will be able to write; and if it seems bad you wonder whether everything you have done isn't poor stuff really; and it is one kind of agony while you are writing, and another kind when you aren't.

The majority of mankind is lazy-minded, incurious, absorbed in vanities, and tepid in emotion, and is therefore incapable of either much doubt or much faith.

Do I dare to eat a peach?

As things are, and as fundamentally they must always be, poetry is not a career, but a mug's game. No honest poet can ever feel quite sure of the permanent value of what he has written: He may have wasted his time and messed up his life for nothing.

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;

We know too much, and are convinced of too little.

The majority of mankind is lazy-minded, incurious, absorbed in vanities, and tepid in emotion, and is therefore incapable of either much doubt or much faith; and when the ordinary man calls himself a sceptic or an unbeliever, that is ordinarily a simple pose, cloaking a disinclination to think anything out to a conclusion. (Introduction to Pascal's Pensées)

I would explain, but you would none of you believe it; If you believed it, still you would not understand.

can one really believe if there is no freedom to disbelieve? What is the credit in having faith if you allow others and yourself no real choice at all?

Is this what I had come to: the inability to trust even my best friend? If human beings cannot have faith in other human beings, despite all their mutual failures, then can they ever have faith in the Almighty, I wondered.

That is the problem with rumors," said Avin Brone. "It is very hard to prove that things are not true—much more difficult than proving they are.

Just for once, Binabik, I want you to tell me there is an answer for something. I'm tired of thinking so much." The troll laughed. "The punishment for being born . . . no, perhaps that is too much to be calling that. The punishment for being truly alive—that is fair to say. Welcome, Simon, to the world of those who are every day condemned to thinking and wondering and never ever knowing with certainness.

sometimes when things go very wrong and even the highest are frightened, innocence is not enough for salvation.

Utan tvivel är man inte klok.

The quest for a lost city erodes your body, damaging you beyond all reason. But it is your mind that bears the heaviest toll. Listen to the doubters, the worriers and the weak, and the vaguest hope of success evaporates.

Do not stand in a place of danger trusting in miracles.

I'm sorry, she said humbly. I haven't wanted to lie to you. I should hope so. You're the worst liar I've ever met. He thought about it for a moment, then added, --or the best. Now I'm all confused.

Have I mentioned that I hate it when you're right?, she asked instead. Alanna shook her head. No, I don't believe you have. As far as I could tell, you never thought I was right.