Quotes About Uncertainty

A heart well prepared for adversity in bad times hopes, and in good times fears for a change in fortune.

Who can hope to be safe? who sufficiently cautious? Guard himself as he may, every moment's an ambush.

Who knows whether the gods will add tomorrow to the present hour?

He will through life be master of himself and a happy man who from day to day can have said, "I have lived: tomorrow the Father may fill the sky with black clouds or with cloudless sunshine."

Cease to ask what the morrow will bring forth. And set down as gain each day that Fortune grants.

Seize today, and put as little trust as you can in tomorrow.

En cuanto a mí, me paso la vida llevando cigarros a la boca como quien quema margaritas: ¿me quiere? ¿no me quiere?

Too much certainty is a miserable thing, while the unknowable has a pristine beauty and a wonder with no end.

I was innocent but certain, now I'm wiser but unsure.

On the plains and prairies either you learn to shrug off the unpredictability of life or else its dangers become too overwhelming.

if you think you know what is going on, you haven't got a clue about what's going on.

Computers: he always fixed on computers when his mind wandered into the future--instruments he revered and hated. The computer world was a place where snotty kids knew everything and nothing.... The computer was part of a future cloudy, unpredictable and menacing.

I suspect you're thinking of Pascal,' Finkler said, finally.'Only he said the opposite. He said you might as well wager on God because that way, even if He doesn't exist, you've nothing to lose. Whereas if you wager against God and He does exist...' 'You're in the shit.

Come over,' he said. 'I'll order in Chinese.' 'You speak Chinese now?' 'Funny guy, Libor. Be here at eight.' 'You sure you're up for it?' 'I'm a philosopher, I'm not sure about anything.'..

For himself, he wanted to impose his values on no one. He wasn't even sure he knew what his values were.

I shall give you hunger, and pain, and sleepless nights. Also beauty, and satisfactions known to few, and glimpses of the heavenly life. None of these you shall have continually, and of their coming and going you shall not be foretold.

If one is approached with a deal predicated on cycles having ceased to occur, remember that invariably that's a losing bet.

Most people strive to adjust their portfolios based on what they think lies ahead. At the same time, however, most people would admit forward visibility just isn't that great. That's why I make the case for responding to the current realities and their implications, as opposed to expecting the future to be made clear.

The correctness of a decision can't be judged from the outcome. Nevertheless, that's how people assess it. A good decision is one that's optimal at the time it's made, when the future is by definition unknown. Thus, correct decisions are often unsuccessful, and vice versa.

An accurate opinion on valuation, loosely held, will be of limited help. An incorrect opinion on valuation, strongly held, is far worse. This one statement shows how hard it is to get it all right

Most people view risk taking primarily as a way to make money. Bearing higher risk generally produces higher returns...But it can't always work that way, or else risk investments wouldn't be risky. And when risk bearing doesn't work, it really doesn't work, and people are reminded what risk's all about.

Most people view risk taking primarily as a way to make money. Bearing higher risk generally produces higher returns...But it can't always work that way, or else risky investments wouldn't be risky. And when risk bearing doesn't work, it really doesn't work, and people are reminded what risk's all about.

Keep the reader guessing about where events are happening, what historical period the characters live in, and whether at any given moment they are jogging, taking a steam bath, or dangling from a precipice. Try to create an absolute nothingness in which, from time to time, a phone receiver or a pair of pert breasts materializes as the protagonist forms the intention to use them.

I stand accused of bringing you more bad than good news. At times, and we are in such a time now, at times in human history, bad is disproportionate to good, and so I own up to the indictment. It's a fact of life, my Canadian brethren, that we cannot always control where the truth comes from, or how bad it turns out to be, or what it reveals about human nature.