Orson Scott Card Quotes on Uncertainty
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No matter how well you know what a person has done and what he thought of what he was doing when he did it and what he now thinks of what he did, it is impossible to be certain of what he will do next.
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Lets say I'm a suspector. I suspect there may be someone who cares what happens to us. That's one step better than merely wishing. And one step below hoping.
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They would not meet, but they would pass close to each other. She would notice him or not. He would speak to her or not. She still loved and needed him. Or not.
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You aren't very good at determining what other people want and need from you... No one is. We're all as likely to hurt as help.
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You can't rule out the impossible, because you never know which of your assumptions about what was possible might turn out, in the real universe, to be false
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[He] didn't know what to say. He didn't even know the name for what he was feeling. 'I think that I don't know you.' she looked at him, a little perplexed. 'No that's wrong. I think that I didn't know you before, even though I thought I knew you, and know that I finally know you, I don't really know you at all.'
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How do you know you're right and were wrong? I don't know
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You don't understand everything, but you still make decisions. Well, we don't understand everything, either. But we decided didn't we? And we made the right choice, didn't we?
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[He] never claims to know what he doesn't know. When he's unsure, he says so. When he's sure, he's always right
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How can we ever know what's true? We can't. That's what I figured out a long time ago. So you don't believe in anything? I believe in everything that seems true to me right now. I just refuse to be surprised when some of those things I believe in now turn out to be false later. It helps keep me from being upset
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I always tell what I believe. Whether it's true, I'm no more sure than any man
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But the fear of death in the one place was not as strong as another kind of fear, the fear of a world gone crazy, a place where anything could happen, where nothing could be trusted, where nothing was certain. A terrible place.
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He was close to her hour after hour, the smell of her, the touch of her breath on the hairs of his arms or on his ears as she leaned over his shoulder to watch. He thought sometimes he might go insane with desire for her; but he could not think of a way to change what lay between them, and though he thought she liked him well enough now, he still didn't know if their friendship was yet the thing a marriage should be made of. Do you love me? He wanted to ask her, to demand of her. But fearing the answer would be a wan 'I'm sorry, Ivan,' he did not speak
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I have to trust everyone and yet there's no one I can really be sure of You can be sure of me she looked at him, searching his face. I've known you so little time. The others I knew all my life. The others are my own people. You are a stranger, from a strange time and place. I know what they can do, what they will do. I have no idea of what you are or what is in your hands and heart and mind. And yet when you tell me I can be sure of you, I am sure
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Either it was too deep for [him], or not deep enough, he couldn't be sure either way
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Even step - she knew that she didn't really know him, that always there was the chance that someday he would surprise her, that she would turn to face her husband and find a stranger in his place, a stranger who didn't approve of her and didn't want her in his life anymore
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Love is random; fear is inevitable.
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Faithfulness had taken me by surprise. I wondered how long the phase would last.