#certainty

Why do people resist [engines, bridges, and cities] so? They are symbols and products of the imagination, which is the force that ensures justice and historical momentum in an imperfect world, because without imagination we would not have the wherewithal to challenge certainty, and we could never rise above ourselves. ↗

— Mark Helprin

#cities #imagination #justice #mankind #imagination

But just as we can all agree on what is red, even if we will never know if we each see it in the same way, so we can all agree - can’t we? - that no matter how confident we may appear to others, inside we are all sobbing, scared and uncertain for much of the time. Or perhaps it’s just me. Oh God, perhaps it really is just me. Actually it doesn’t really matter, when you come to think of it. If it is just me, then you are reading the story of some weird freak. You are free to treat this book like science fiction, fantasy or exotic travel literature. Are there really men like Stephen Fry on this planet? Goodness, how alien some people are. And if I am not alone, then neither are you, and hand in hand we can marvel together at the strangeness of the human condition. ↗

— Stephen Fry

#life #uncertainty #inspirational

I never imagined it wouldn't work out for me. I had that absolute certainty in myself that has seen me through, I think, and my parents were absolutely behind me all the way. ↗

— Ewan McGregor

#absolutely #behind #certainty #had #i

Science has proof without any certainty. Creationists have certainty without any proof. ↗

— Ashley Montagu

#certainty #creationists #proof #science #without

In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain. ↗

— Pliny the Elder

#certainty #matters #nothing #only #these

Mystery is gone to the certainty of technological principles. So the real terror, the real aggression against life comes in the form of the pursuit of our technological happiness. ↗

— Godfrey Reggio

#aggression #certainty #comes #form #gone

The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly Saddam can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud. ↗

— Condoleezza Rice

#acquire #always #cloud #gun #here

Whether gods exist or not, there is no way to get absolute certainty about ethics. Without absolute certainty, what do we do? We do the best we can. ↗

— Richard Stallman

#absolute #best #certainty #ethics #exist

When I tested for Billy Budd, I had that kind of confidence that comes with the certainty that you're not going to get something. I was very rough around the edges. ↗

— Terence Stamp

#billy #certainty #comes #confidence #edges

In the age of technology there is constant access to vast amounts of information. The basket overflows; people get overwhelmed; the eye of the storm is not so much what goes on in the world, it is the confusion of how to think, feel, digest, and react to what goes on. ↗

— Criss Jami

#confusion #disorientation #excess #excessive #eye