Quotes About Uncertainty

People are enthralled by mystery; because it invites constant interpretation, they never tire of it. The mysterious cannot be grasped. And what cannot be seized and consumed creates power.

Daily Law: Contemplate any feelings of uncertainty and even discomfort and hold fast to them. Amid such uncertainty your dormant sense of wonder will begin to stir, and things will start to appear novel and surprising as they did when you were very young.

Really, take it from me: it is always the unknown that is most frightening.

The line between accident and suicide isn't always clearly defined. You could kill yourself without really making up your mind.

The only thing you can be sure of, Herr March, is that - whoever wins - still standing when the smoke of battle clears will be the banks of the cantons of Switzerland.

What a day in prospect: the sort of day one waded through with no aim higher than to reach the other end intact.

She was my—? I never knew what to call her. To say she was my girlfriend was absurd; no one the wrong side of thirty has a girlfriend. Partner wasn't right either, as we didn't live under the same roof. Lover? How could one keep a straight face? Mistress? Do me a favor. Fiancée? Certainly not. I suppose I ought to have realized it was ominous that forty thousand years of human language had failed to produce a word for our relationship.

One could never be sure with Oliver. Ambition and godliness, self-interest and the higher cause, the base metal entwined with the gold.

YOU CAN ALWAYS SPOT A FOOL, for he is the man who will tell you he knows who is going to win an election

Traveling through Fog Looking back, we cannot see, except for its blurring lights like underwater stars and moons, our starting-place. Behind us, beyond us now is phantom territory, a world abstract as memories of earth the traveling dead take home. Between obscuring cloud and cloud, the cloudy dark ensphering us seems all we can be certain of. Is Plato's cave.

always remember that when things look darkest, they usually get considerably worse

Always something new, always something I didn't expect, and sometimes it isn't horrible.

If you don't know everything, you must go on with what you do know.

You can never know everything, and part of what you know is always wrong. Perhaps even the most important part. A portion of wisdom lies in knowing that. A portion of courage lies in going on anyway.

Remember that any meal can be your last. You chose to travel with us, so tonight you will eat fish. Tomorrow, you may die.

Juilin, she asked hesitantly, what were you going to do with the salt and cooking oil? Not exactly, she added more quickly. Just a general idea. He looked at her for a moment. I do not know. But they did not, either. That is the trick of it; their minds made up worse then I ever could. I have seen a tough man break when I sent for a basket of figs and some mice.

The Light willing, we will see one another again, Rand said. He held out his hand to Perrin. Watch out for Mat. I'm honestly not sure what he's going to do, but I have a feeling it will be highly dangerous for all involved. Not like us, Perrin said, clasping Rand's forearm. You and I, we're much better at keeping to the safe paths.

Sometimes six and six make a dozen, and sometimes they make a mess

A spoonful of hope and a cup of despair

Why, that's like being told to go up in the hills to find lions, only you do not know whether there are any lions, but if there are, they may be hunting you, and they may be disguised as bushes. Oh, and if you find any lions, try not to let them eat you before you can tell where they are. -Elayne

Lan said the time to sound most sure was when you were least certain.

A man can get killed in there.

Light, why did the Pattern have to catch me up with you? Why couldn't I have something safe and simple, like being shipwrecked with no food and a dozen hungry Aielmen?

You can never know everything," Lan said quietly, "and part of what you know is always wrong. Perhaps even the most important part. A portion of wisdom lies in knowing that. A portion of courage lies in going on anyway.