#certainty

Some care is needed in using Descartes' argument. "I think, therefore I am" says rather more than is strictly certain. It might seem as though we are quite sure of being the same person to-day as we were yesterday, and this is no doubt true in some sense. But the real Self is as hard to arrive at as the real table, and does not seem to have that absolute, convincing certainty that belongs to particular experiences. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#continuity #descartes #existence #existentialism #experience

Those who believe that they believe in God, but without passion in their hearts, without anguish in mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, without an element of despair even in their consolation, believe only in the God idea, not God Himself. ↗

— Miguel de Unamuno

#god #idea #passion #uncertainty

In the high country of the mind one has to become adjusted to the thinner air of uncertainty... ↗

— Robert M. Pirsig

#uncertainty

The bittersweetness of uncertainty: To win or to lose. ↗

— Markus Zusak

#jews #nazi #world-war #uncertainty

I cannot have chaos erupting around me until I am prepared for it. I am a collector. I am an observer. I don't participate. My resources, and my standing, must be secure before I can allow the uncertainty of war to crash down upon us. ↗

— Derek Landy

#preparedness #war #uncertainty

Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty. ↗

— Tacitus

#delay #falsehood #haste #inspection #truth

Sometimes when persons say definitely it sounds actually less true. ↗

— Emma Donoghue

#definitely #emphasis #exaggeration #truth #uncertainty

Uncertainty is a quality to be cherished, therefore – if not for it, who would dare to undertake anything? ↗

— Auguste de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam

#uncertainty #uncertainty

The truth is, we value your company, for want of any other. We have been left so much to our own devices—after a while one welcomes the uncertainty of being left to other people's. ↗

— Tom Stoppard

#truth #uncertainty

All night my heart makes its way however it can over the rough ground of uncertainties, but only until night meets and then is overwhelmed by morning, the light deepening, the wind easing and just waiting, as I too wait (and when have I ever been disappointed?) for redbird to sing ↗

— Mary Oliver

#mornings #physical-landscapes #uncertainty