#certainty

The human spirit glows from that small inner light of doubt whether we are right, while those who believe with certainty that they possess the right are dark inside and darken the world outside with cruelty, pain, and injustice. ↗

— Saul D. Alinsky

#doubt #cruelty

Even if it were possible to cast my horoscope in this one life, and to make an accurate prediction about my future, it would not be possible to 'show' it to me because as soon as I saw it my future would change by definition. This is why Werner Heisenberg's adaptation of the Hays Office—the so-called principle of uncertainty whereby the act of measuring something has the effect of altering the measurement—is of such importance. In my case the difference is often made by publicity. For example, and to boast of one of my few virtues, I used to derive pleasure from giving my time to bright young people who showed promise as writers and who asked for my help. Then some profile of me quoted someone who disclosed that I liked to do this. Then it became something widely said of me, whereupon it became almost impossible for me to go on doing it, because I started to receive far more requests than I could respond to, let alone satisfy. Perception modifies reality: when I abandoned the smoking habit of more than three decades I was given a supposedly helpful pill called Wellbutrin. But as soon as I discovered that this was the brand name for an antidepressant, I tossed the bottle away. There may be successful methods for overcoming the blues but for me they cannot include a capsule that says: 'Fool yourself into happiness, while pretending not to do so.' I should actually want my mind to be strong enough to circumvent such a trick. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#assistance #bupropion #depression #future #happiness

I used to be scared of uncertainty; now I get a high out of it. ↗

— Jensen Ackles

#high #i #now #out #scared

The basic fault lines today are not between people with different beliefs but between people who hold these beliefs with an element of uncertainty and people who hold these beliefs with a pretense of certitude. ↗

— Peter L. Berger

#beliefs #between #certitude #different #different beliefs

Only a very bad theologian would confuse the certainty that follows revelation with the truths that are revealed. They are entirely different things. ↗

— Denis Diderot

#certainty #confuse #different #different things #entirely

We can say with certainty - or 90% probability - that the new industries that are about to be born will have nothing to do with information. ↗

— Peter Drucker

#born #certainty #industries #information #new

I think that what most artists are trying to do is trying to understand. I think what distinguishes creative people and/or artists from another type of person is perhaps a willingness to go headlong into that uncertainty. ↗

— Brandon Boyd

#artists #creative #creative people #distinguishes #go

And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human. ↗

— William Gibson

#blue eyes #certainty #directly #even #exceedingly

Uncertainty is the refuge of hope. ↗

— Henri Frederic Amiel

#refuge #uncertainty

I look at decisions like - it's like an Indiana Jones movie. The guy comes to a rope ladder, and he's being chased. There's uncertainty on the other side, but he knows when he gets to the other side, he's going to take his machete and cut the rope ladder behind him. He has no retreat. ↗

— Mark Burnett

#being #chased #comes #cut #decisions