Quotes About Uncertainty

The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides.

Ah, what a dusty answer gets the soul when hot for certainties in this, our life!

A reasonable probability is the only certainty.

Doubt is not a pleasant state, but certainty is a ridiculous one.

Something must be left to chance; nothing is sure in a sea fight.

There is only one thing about which I am certain, and this is that there is very little about which one can be certain.

The only certainty is that nothing is certain.

There is one thing certain, namely, that we can have nothing certain; therefore it is not certain that we can have nothing certain.

Only a weak mind seeks ultimate answers.

He who forecasts all perils will never sail the sea.

One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of shore for a very long time.

To teach how to live with uncertainty, yet without being paralyzed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy can do.

If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.

There is no advancement to him who stands trembling because he cannot see the end from the beginning.

Nobody can really guarantee the future. The best we can do is size up the chances, calculate the risks involved, estimate our ability to deal with them and make our plans with confidence.

Soon after a heart-wrung decision, something inevitably occurs to cast doubt on your choice. Holding steady against that doubt usually proves your decision.

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we often might win, by fearing to attempt.

All uncertainly is fruitful... so long as it is accompanied by the wish to understand.

I'm delighted that the future is unsure. That's the way it should be.

Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why: Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.

I have known him (Micawber) come home to supper with a flood of tears, and a declaration that nothing was now left but a jail; and go to bed making a calculation of the expense of putting bow-windows to the house, "in case anything turned up," which was his favorite expression.

Take risks. You can't fall off the bottom.

If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.

We have to keep trying things we're not sure we can pull off. If we just do the things we know we can do ... you don't grow as much. You gotta take those chances on making those big mistakes.