Quotes About Doubt

The self-doubt of the young is nothing compared to the self-doubt of the old. And this, perhaps, was their final triumph over him. Instead of killing him, they had allowed him to live, and by allowing him to live, they had killed him. This was the final, unanswerable irony to his life: that by allowing him to live, they had killed him.

Be approximately satisfied with approximate happiness. The only thing in life which is clear and beyond doubt is unhappiness

Throw off your grief,' such doubters imply, 'and we can all go back to pretending that death doesn't exist, or at least is comfortably far away.

There was something a bit sinister about Noah's devotion to God; creepy, if you know what I mean.

you begin lying to her. Why? Something to do with the need to create some internal space which you could keep intact—and where you could yourself remain intact. And this is how it is for you now. Love and truth—where have they gone? You ask yourself: Is staying with her an act of courage on your part, or an act of cowardice? Perhaps both? Or is it just an inevitability?

The next day, all that stopped him from feeling pure exultance was the question: had it been too easy?

And while he was tormenting himself, here was a question he would often arrive at when his mind followed a particular trail of memory. Handing back Susan had been an act of self-protection on his part. There was no doubt about that; and no doubt in his mind that he had to do it. But beyond this, was it an act of courage, or of cowardice? And if he couldn't decide, perhaps the answer was: both.

Nowadays, at the other end of life, I have a rule of thumb about whether or not two people are having an affair: if you think they might be, then they definitely are.

He became nervous, things blurred in his mind, and he would sometimes make a decision simply in order to have the matter settled rather than because he knew what he wanted.

All the world knows it is better to be gullible than suspicious.

I've never thought there was anything I could hope to get by praying for it.

I always doubt people... I've survived by not believing in other human beings.

Everyone's a liar. Everyone I've ever known.

I took a fall," he confirmed evenly. After a hesitation doubtless only Phoebe noticed. And Phoebe didn't know whether it was the sort of fall Lucifer took, or the sort poets wrote about when love struck, or even if it was an innuendo at all, because she suspected everything was destined to sound like an innuendo from now on.

Use it all you want. Marry him. He'll never really be yours, and you'll never know it. Or maybe you will.

Surely there must be something they had said, or done, surely there must be some mistake they had made, surely they must be guilty of something, some obscure crime, perhaps, of which they were not even aware.

You love me? Who loves you?

And that was when he knew for sure: No one was in charge. No one at all. As he'd suspected, there was very definitely no plan.

Look." Joe's voice was cajoling, almost begging, yet Skip knew

Even when I was young and content and thought life would bring good things for me and mine, I didn't believe in miracles.

I'm fighting, I'm falling, I'm wondering how a god who's supposed to be merciful can stand by and watch this. I want to shrink down and hide. I want to be invisible.

Inventions have long-since reached their limit--and I see no hope for further developments. -- Julius Frontinus, world-famous engineer (Rome, 10 AD)

part of the mind's job was to cast doubt on what the heart knew to be true, and the heart, because it had no words, often lost the argument

Unable to suspect others, unable to believe in others, one would to live in a suspended state, a state of bankrupt human relations, as if one were looking into a mirror that reflects nothing.