Quotes About Doubt

even if the question is a real one, does the fact that science cannot answer it imply that religion can.

The faithful are encouraged to profess belief, whether they are convinced by it or not. Maybe if you repeat something often enough, you will succeed in convincing yourself of its truth.

There are so many different faiths. How do you know the holy book you have been brought up with is the true one? And if all the others are wrong, what makes you think your holy book isn't wrong too?

When people say they are atheists they don't mean they can prove that there are no gods. Strictly speaking, it's impossible to prove that something does not exist. We don't positively know there are no gods

Um dos efeitos verdadeiramente ruins da religião é que ela nos ensina que é uma virtude estar satisfeito em não compreender.

Fuck God, he had actually wanted to say. Fuck God for having made this world, fucked be His name, now and for fucking ever, fuck God for our lives, fuck God for not saving us, fuck God for not fucking being here and for not fucking saving the men burning on the fucking bamboo.

Cynicism makes you feel smart, I know it, even when you aren't smart.

My name's not José, goddamn it." I cast a wintry eye at Lynette's spurious beigey Jesus nailed to the siding. He makes life a perfect misery for as many as he can, then never takes the heat. He should try resurrection in today's complex world. He'd fall right off His cross on His ass. He couldn't sell newspapers.

Most people like to believe something is or is not true. Great scientists tolerate ambiguity very well. They believe the theory enough to go ahead; they doubt it enough to notice the errors and faults so they can step forward and create the new replacement theory. If you believe too much you'll never notice the flaws; if you doubt too much you won't get started. It requires a lovely balance.

You don't trust me?' 'Now you come to mention it, no. But that isn't it.

I don't think I really believe in paradise, Carl. You want to know the truth, I don't think any of us do really. Deep down, down where it counts, I think we all know it's a crock of shit. That's why we're all so fucking determined to spread the good news, to shove it down other people's throats. Because if we can't make other people believe it, how are we going to stamp out the doubt in ourselves. And it's cold, that doubt.

À adorer l'incertitude.

We must remain ready to ask, open-minded enough to be led, and willing to believe despite our bouts of disbelief. Creativity is an act of faith, and we must be faithful to that faith, willing to share it to help others, and to be helped in return.

YOU PRAY for guidance and then doubt that I answer your prayers. I am always listening, always ready to guide you when you will be led.

Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt. —WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

It's my experience that we're much more afraid that there might be a God than we are that there might not be.

something, what we mean is that we won't do something unless we can guarantee that we'll do it perfectly. Working artists know the folly of

I don't believe in God, but I miss him.

Life seemed even more of a guessing game than usual.

He gave the impression that he believed in things. We did too—it was just that we wanted to believe in our own things, rather than what had been decided for us. Hence what we thought of as our cleansing scepticism.

Martha was a clever girl, and therefore not a believer.

The trouble was, how could you know what question to ask? It seemed to her that you were in a position to ask a really correct question only if you already knew the answer, and what was the point of that?

And this is where the Silent Ones cause further offense. They do not understand (how could they?) that they have a new function in your life. You need your friends not just as friends, but also as corroborators. The chief witness to what has been your life is now silenced, and retrospective doubt is inevitable.

If I call myself an atheist at twenty, and an agnostic at fifty and sixty, it isn't because I have acquired more knowledge in the meantime: just more awareness of ignorance.