82 Certainty Quotes

There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.

When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also admit that some things are much more nearly certain than others. It is much more nearly certain that we are assembled here tonight than it is that this or that political party is in the right. Certainly there are degrees of certainty, and one should be very careful to emphasize that fact, because otherwise one is landed in an utter skepticism, and complete skepticism would, of course, be totally barren and completely useless.

Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance.

I mean the word proof not in the sense of the lawyers, who set two half proofs equal to a whole one, but in the sense of a mathematician, where half proof = 0, and it is demanded for proof that every doubt becomes impossible.

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

The fanatic is not really a stickler to principle. He embraces a cause not primarily because of its justness or holiness but because of his desperate need for something to hold onto.

The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.

The fact that there is nothing but a spiritual world deprives us of hope and gives us certainty.

I found it peculiar that those who wanted to take military action could - with 100 per cent certainty - know that the weapons existed and turn out to have zero knowledge of where they were.

Nothing helps you sleep at night so much as being absolutely certain that you're right, and everyone else is evil.

Science does not give us absolute and final certainty. It only gives us assurance within the limits of our mental abilities and the prevailing state of scientific thought.

From principles is derived probability, but truth or certainty is obtained only from facts.

In order to cease being a doubtful case, one has to cease being, that's all.

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

The Devil is precise; the marks of his presence are definite as stone.

There is no mistake; there has been no mistake; and there shall be no mistake.

It's good to have some certainty in life - even if it's only that I'm in deep trouble.

Cling to your insecurity - in this world, it's the only thing you can be sure of.

A religious creed differs from a scientific theory in claiming to embody eternal and absolutely certain truth, whereas science is always tentative, expecting that modification in its present theories will sooner or later be found necessary, and aware that its method is one which is logically incapable of arriving at a complete and final demonstration.

Humans may crave absolute certainty; they may aspire to it; they may pretend, as partisans of certain religions do, to have attained it. But the history of science - by far the most successful claim to knowledge accessible to humans - teaches that the most we can hope for is successive improvement in our understanding, learning from our mistakes, an asymptotic approach to the Universe, but with the proviso that absolute certainty will always elude us.

We possess nothing certainly except the past.

I know of men who believe in themselves more colossally than Napoleon or Caesar. I know where flames the fixed star of certainty and success. I can guide you to the thrones of the Super-men. The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums.

Materialists and madmen never have doubts.

I don't know very much but what I do know I know better than anybody, and I don't want to argue about it:My mind is not a bed to be made and re-made.

Our aim as scientists is objective truth; more truth, more interesting truth, more intelligible truth. We cannot reasonably aim at certainty. Once we realize that human knowledge is fallible, we realize also that we can never be completely certain that we have not made a mistake.

He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.

One reason why mathematics enjoys special esteem, above all other sciences, is that its laws are absolutely certain and indisputable, while those of other sciences are to some extent debatable and in constant danger of being overthrown by newly discovered facts.

Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

Nothing is surer than that the people will be weak. (330)

We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand. A doctrine that is understood is shorn of its strength.

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.

To refuse a hearing to an opinion, because they are sure that it is false, is to assume that their certainty is the same thing as absolute certainty. All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility. Its condemnation may be allowed to rest on this common argument, not the worse for being common. (p. 24)

If you think you know what the answer is, you haven't asked a big enough question.

There are uncertain truths - even true statements that we may take to be false - but there are no uncertain certainties. Since we can never know anything for sure, it is simply not worth searching for certainty; but it is well worth searching for truth; and we do this chiefly by searching for mistakes, so that we have to correct them.

That's the only way you gonna save this sucker. He's doomed.

You're only so sure you're right because they're so sure you're wrong.

She was sure of that. Or at least she hoped it with such fervor that it felt like certainty.

Because you're really, really sure doesn't that mean you're right?

Everyone you say who says that they have no religious beliefs is just so certain about their belief that they accept it as truth. If you just start asking probing questions, and they start getting mad, then you've found their religion.

One thing remaining, infallible, would be Enough.

There is order in chaos, and certainty in doubt. The wise are guided by this order and certainty.

It seems that the more I learn, the less I know. While the more ignorant remain absolutely certain of their convictions

Saw you early this morning With your brand new boy and your Cadillac Saw you early this morning With your brand new boy and your Cadillac You're gone for something And I know you won't be back

What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so.

This is petrified truth.

La jalousie se nourrit dans les doutes, et elle devient fureur, ou elle finit, sitot qu'on passe du doute a la certitude.

It is some basic certainty which the noble soul has about itself, something which does not allow itself to be sought out or found or perhaps even to be lost. The noble soul has reverence for itself.

To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it.

To explain all nature is too difficult a task for any one man or even for any one age. 'Tis much better to do a little with certainty, & leave the rest for others that come after you, than to explain all things by conjecture without making sure of any thing.

A pinch of probability is worth a pound of perhaps.

I think I know what happens.

Permit me, sir, to give you one piece of advice. Be not so positive; especially with regard to things which are neither easy nor necessary to be determined. When I was young I was sure of everything. In a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before. At present, I am hardly sure of anything but what God has revealed to man.

People say that knowledge is power. The more knowledge, the more power. Suppose you knew the winning numbers for the lottery? All of them? Not guessed them, not dreamed them, but really knew them? What would you do? You would run to the store. You would mark those numbers on the play card. And you would win...Same for killing people.

1. If you do know that here is one hand, we'll grant you all the rest.

370. But more correctly: The fact that I use the word 'hand' and all the other words in my sentence without a second thought, indeed that I should stand before the abyss if I wanted so much as to try doubting their meanings - shows that absence of doubt belongs to the essence of the language-game, that the question 'How do I know...' drags out the language-game, or else does away with it.

Take it from me - he's got the goods.

If one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out.

'Are you sure?' I said that sure was just what I wasn't anything but.

The first precept was never to accept a thing as true until I knew it as such without a single doubt.

Today the theory of evolution is about as much open to doubt as the theory that the earth goes round the sun.

It is normally possible to be much more certain who your children are than who your brothers are. And you can be more certain still who you yourself are!

There remains the final reflection, how shallow, puny, and imperfect are efforts to sound the depths in the nature of things. In philosophical discussion, the merest hint of dogmatic certainty as to finality of statement is an exhibition of folly. -P.R. preface