Quotes About Doubt

With things like this, when people don't really understand what has happened, they'll assume the worst long before they have to. It's a little like when people are afraid of the dark. Often it's not the darkness they're afraid of, it's the fact that they don't know what's in it. And because they can't see, because they're not sure, they start to imagine there are more sinister things afoot than there ordinarily would be.

And it happens like that. Like when you first realize that there is no such thing as magic. Or that nothing actually answers your prayers, or really even listens. That cold moment of dismay where your feet are kicked from under you, where you're disarmed by a shard of knowing.

Right. I guess it must be comforting to actually believe in God and Jesus and all that. It must fill in all that space so you don't have to worry about it anymore. But it's a bit like closing a door when there's a cold draft, isn't it? It's still cold out there, it's just that you don't notice anymore because you're warm.

people are willing to swallow any old tripe as long as you say it without flinching. They want to be told stuff. And they don't want to doubt you either. It's too hard. So if you say it like you really mean it to be true, then you're away.

There's no such thing as God, Charlie, at least not how they say.

That's what teachers get paid for, isn't it? How am I supposed to know when I don't get something? I'm just a kid.

People say things all the time with the best of intentions but it's so easy not believe the words that come out of your own mouth.

The only new ideas that are not subject to our skepticism or suspicion are our own.

Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.

was probably mad at all of them. She wondered

Why me?" Claire asked him. "Fuck if I know." She blinked. Well, that wasn't exactly some romantic confession.

How many bad things can happen to a person..." Lewis asked, musing, "before they start to lose their soul?

disappearance, Kyle knew he had

Just because other people think something, that doesn't make it true. Maybe there's some truth in that, but it's unsatisfying, bitter-tasting truth.

I've always been wary of marriage.

I haven't got the goddamnedest idea of what the hell you're talking about. Kierkeguard, what's that? Sounds like deodorant, which is to say that the whole thing smells as far as I'm concerned.

Those of us who were brought up as Christians and have lost our faith have retained the sense of sin without the saving belief in redemption. This poisons our thought and so paralyses us in action.

Obviously not," said Pettigrew, beginning to feel like a participant in one of Plato's dialogues when Socrates really got going.

The creative act of the artist lifts him above himself by demanding full surrender. No one puts words on paper or paint on canvas, doubting. If one doubts, one does so five minutes later...

Sometimes the world loses its face. it becomes too base. The task of the poet is to restore its face, because otherwise man is lost in doubt and despair. It is an indication that the world need not always be like this; it can be different. When I wrote...that I accepted the salvational goal of poetry, that was exactly what I had in mind, and I still believe that poetry can either save or destroy nations.

But then peace, peace I am so mistrustful of it so much afraid that it means a sort of weakness and giving in.

Jesus smiled, "So, you believe because you've seen with your own eyes. Good! But better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.

Someday, she was convinced, somebody would find out that she was an imposter in the adult world.

If it wasn't that it was all arranged I'd back down," declares Annie frankly. I assure Annie that a lot of people feel like that as their wedding day approaches. "Yes," says Annie. "Mrs. Fraser did too. Mrs. Fraser says it's like 'aving a tooth out. You're sorry you ever came when you find yourself in the dentist's chair, but you're all the better for it afterwards.