Certainty Vs Doubt Quotes & Sayings

God, how I ricochet between certainties and doubts. — Sylvia Plath

The most distinctive characteristic which differentiates mathematics from the various branches of empirical science, and which accounts for its fame as the queen of the sciences, is no doubt the peculiar certainty and necessity of its results. — Carl Gustav Hempel

I think that certainty is a closed door, It's the end of the conversation. Doubt is an open door. — John Patrick Shanley

How long will you say, "I will conquer the whole world
How long will you say, "I will conquer the whole world
and fill it with myself"?
Even if snow covered the world completely,
the sun could melt it with a glance.
A single spark of God's mercy
can turn poison into springwater.
Where there is doubt,
He establishes certainty. — Rumi

I have moved from certainty to doubt, from devotion to rebellion. — Phil Donahue

Doubt always coexists with faith, for in the presence of certainty who would need faith at all? — Philip Yancey

Doubt is long-winded. Certainty is brief. — Mason Cooley

Over the proof that someone can be both certain and wrong. In my mind, I began to reserve judgment even on the revelations of the goddess. I cultivated the word probably. Was the temple swept? Yes, probably. But perhaps not. The goddess was eternal and just and immune to all lies, probably. We were her beloved and chosen, probably. But perhaps we weren't. I became very aware of the division between truth and certainty. I began to doubt. And once I was on that path, there was no hiding it. — Daniel Abraham

Certainty sees things in restrictive, protective, aggressive ways, and thus isn't seeing at all. — Jerry Saltz

If in other sciences we should arrive at certainty without doubt and truth without error, it behooves us to place the foundations of knowledge in mathematics ... — Roger Bacon

When faith simplifies things that need to remain complex, instead of giving us strength to live with complexity, when it gives us answers where none exist, instead of helping us appreciate the sacredness of living with questions, when it offers certainty when there needs to be doubt, and when it tells us that we have arrived when we should be searching-then there is a problem with that faith. — Brad Hirschfield

The problem with certainty is that it is static; it can do little but endlessly reassert itself. Uncertainty, by contrast, is full of unknowns, possibilities, and risks. (65) — Stephen Batchelor

From the house of unbelief
to true religion
is a single breath;
From the world of doubt
to certainty
is a single breath;
Enjoy this precious single breath,
for the harvest
of our whole lives
is that same one breath. — Omar Khayyam

For instantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away. — Augustine Of Hippo

The opposite of faith isn't doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty. — Claudia Gray

A man who has humility will have acquired in the last reaches of his beliefs the saving doubt of his own certainty. — Walter Lippmann

You never really know. Lately Kevin has been bothering himself with the idea that nothing is certain, nothing can be proven. Not one thing, not in all the world. The sun will rise tomorrow. Prove it. The sun rose this morning. Prove it. The sun is in the sky. Prove it. There's a sun at all. Prove it. The world is like a box of Kleenex, every doubt pulling another along behind it. You can always find a new reason to distrust the facts. — Kevin Brockmeier

In order to determine whether we can know anything with certainty, we first have to doubt everything we know. - Descartes — Lex Bayer

Whatever doubt might rise, he knew that he was right. But the rightness was an intellectual rightness and the doubt emotional. — Clifford D. Simak

All great discoveries," the elder Marratta had once said, "are products as much of doubt as of certainty, and the two in opposition clear the air for marvelous accidents." At — Mark Helprin

Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one. — Voltaire

Out of the element of participation follows the certainty of faith; out of the element of separation follows the doubt in faith. And each is essential for the nature of faith. Sometimes certainty conquers doubt, but it cannot eliminate doubt. The conquered of today may become the conqueror of tomorrow. Sometimes doubt conquers faith, but it still contains faith. Otherwise it would be indifference. — Paul Tillich

I can't do this with you, Vincent." Lexi stepped back, putting some distance between them.
"We belong together." There was no doubt, no question in his voice, as he said the words, only
utter certainty. — Victoria Michaels

Lord Jesus, we praise you for your victory over death and your grace. In our moments of doubt and worry, remind us of the certainty of the resurrection, until we see it with our own eyes. Amen. — Northwestern Publishing House

Believing is not the same as knowing. Believing is second-hand knowledge, whereas knowing is first-hand experience. When your action comes from a level of belief, there is fear, doubt and restlessness behind such action. When your action comes from a level of knowing, there is conviction, certainty and calm behind such action. — Yogi Kanna

Living by faith isn't living with certainty. It's trusting God in spite of unanswered questions and unresolved doubts. — Rick Warren

There's one thing that always interests me about you good people, not your certainty that the rest of us are swine, - no doubt we are, - but your certainty that your opinions are pearls. — Margaret Deland

We proceed by doubt, by trial and error, by resisting the impulse to lunge after certainty. — William Deresiewicz

TEN GUIDEPOSTS FOR WHOLEHEARTED LIVING 1. Cultivating authenticity: letting go of what people think 2. Cultivating self-compassion: letting go of perfectionism 3. Cultivating a resilient spirit: letting go of numbing and powerlessness 4. Cultivating gratitude and joy: letting go of scarcity and fear of the dark 5. Cultivating intuition and trusting faith: letting go of the need for certainty 6. Cultivating creativity: letting go of comparison 7. Cultivating play and rest: letting go of exhaustion as a status symbol and productivity as self-worth 8. Cultivating calm and stillness: letting go of anxiety as a lifestyle 9. Cultivating meaningful work: letting go of self-doubt and "supposed to" 10. Cultivating laughter, song, and dance: letting go of being cool and "always in control — Brene Brown

At sixteen, he was cursed with all the certainty of youth, unleavened by any trace of humor or self-doubt, and wed to the arrogance that came so naturally to those born blond and strong and handsome. — George R R Martin

Certainty is a closing of the mind. To create something new you must have doubt. — Milton Glaser

Doubt is nothing but a trivial agitation on the surface of the soul, while deep down there is a calm certainty. — Francois Mauriac