Uncertain Quotes - Page 24

• If he wants meaning-the meaning of his dreams, his secrets, his life-a man must reinhabit his past, however dark, and live for the future, however uncertain.

  Jed Rubenfeld

  Dream, Dark, Men

  Jed Rubenfeld (2007). “The Interpretation of Murder: A Novel”, p.7, Macmillan

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• In these uncertain times, I know 100 percent that I can stake my life on the unshakeable, unchanging promises of God!

  Sheila Walsh

  Promise, Uncertain Times, Stakes

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• How is it that one day life is orderly and you are content, a little cynical perhaps but on the whole just so, and then without warning you find the solid floor is a trapdoor and you are now in another place whose geography is uncertain and whose customs are strange?

  Jeanette Winterson

  Life, Cynical, One Day

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• Who reads Incessantly, and to his reading brings not A spirit and judgment equal or superior, (And what he brings what need he elsewhere seek?) Uncertain and unsettled still remains, Deep versed in books and shallow in himself, Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys And trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge, As children gathering pebbles on the shore.

  John Milton

  Children, Reading, Book

  John Milton (2014). “Paradise Regained In Plain and Simple English: A Modern Translation and the Original Version”, p.78, BookCaps Study Guides

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• If what the philosophers say be true, that all men's actions proceed from one source; that as they assent from a persuasion that a thing is so, and dissent from a persuasion that it is not, and suspend their judgment from a persuasion that it is uncertain, so likewise they seek a thing from a persuasion that it is for their advantage.

  Epictetus

  Men, Action, Philosopher

  Epictetus (1866). “The Works of Epictetus: Consisting of His Discourses, in Four Books, the Enchiridion, and Fragments”, p.54

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• Lifeless in appearance, sluggish dazed spring approaches They enter the new world naked, cold, uncertain of all save that they enter.

  William Carlos Williams

  Spring, Naked, World

  1923 Spring and All, 'Spring and All'.

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• This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores. Instead, it is that American spirit - that American promise - that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Strong, Powerful

  Democratic National Convention Presidential Nomination Acceptance, delivered 28 August 2008, INVESCO Field at Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado

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• We may, indeed, say that the hour of death is uncertain, but when we say this we think of that hour as situated in a vague and remote expanse of time; it does not occur to us that it can have any connexion with the day that has already dawned and can mean that death -- or its first assault and partial possession of us, after which it will never leave hold of us again -- may occur this very afternoon, so far from uncertain, this afternoon whose time-table, hour by hour, has been settled in advance.

  Marcel Proust

  Mean, Thinking, Doe

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• If in the modern world wars have unfortunately to be fought (and they do, it seems) then they must be stopped at the first possible moment, otherwise they corrupt us, they create new problems and make our future even more uncertain. That is more than morality; it's sense.

  Jawaharlal Nehru

  War, World, Firsts

  Interview with James Cameron, Picture Post, October 28, 1950.

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• Americans treat history like a cookbook. Whenever they are uncertain what to do next, they turn to history and look up the proper recipe, invariably designated "the lesson of history.

  Russell Baker

  Looks, Lessons, Recipes

  Russell Baker (2014). “So This is Depravity”, p.75, Diversion Books

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• And whereas many men, by accident unevitable, become unable to maintain themselves by their labour; they ought not to be left to the Charity of private persons; but to be provided for, (as far-forth as the necessities of Nature require,) by the Lawes of the Common-wealth. For as it is Unchariablenesse in any man, to neglect the impotent; so it is in the Soveraign of a Common-wealth, to expose them to the hazard of such uncertain Charity.

  Thomas Hobbes

  Men, Hazards, Charity

  "Leviathan". Book by Thomas Hobbes. The Second Part, Chapter 30, 1651.

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• I see in the act of throwing the dice and of risking the affirmation of some intuitively felt truth, however uncertain, my whole reason for living.

  Antonin Artaud

  Truth, Dice, Affirmation

  Antonin Artaud, Susan Sontag (1976). “Antonin Artaud, Selected Writings”, p.91, Univ of California Press

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• great artists can be uncertain. Of course they are while strugggling to find solutions. Tolstoi's scripts are almost indecipherable. Emily Dickinson provided four or more alternates for every word; Beethoven wrestled with endings to the point of exhaustion; in our day Jerome Robbins and his lack of decision are a byword in the dance profession. But all of these knew very well what they did not want, and what they did not want was the current coin, the well-worn usage. What they wanted was something newly experienced, and therefore unknown and hard to attain.

  Agnes de Mille

  Artist, Decision, Coins

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• Fortune, delighting in her cruel task, and playing her wanton game untiringly, is ever shifting her uncertain favours.

  Horace

  Games, Tasks, Shifting

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• Little do you know what a gloriously uncertain thing law is.

  Plautus

  Law, Littles, Knows

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• What is certain in death is somewhat softened by what is uncertain; it is an indefiniteness in the time, which holds a certain relation to the infinite, and what is called eternity.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Death, Infinite, Eternity

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• The man who goes through life with an uncertain doctrine not knowing what he believes, what a poor, powerless creature he is! He goes around through the world as a man goes down through the street with a poor, wounded arm, forever dodging people be meets on the street for fear they may touch him.

  Phillips Brooks

  Believe, Men, Knowing

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• Uncertain whose the narrowest span,--the clown unread, or half-read gentleman.

  John Dryden

  Reading, Gentleman, Half

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• All the strength and force of man comes from his faith in things unseen. He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions. The man strongly possessed of an idea is the master of all who are uncertain or wavering. Clear, deep, living convictions rule the world.

  James Freeman Clarke

  Faith, Strong, Believe

  James Freeman Clarke (1875). “Common-sense in Religion: A Series of Essays”, p.339

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• The bore is good for promoting sleep; but though he causeth sleep in others, it is uncertain whether he ever sleeps himself; as few can keep awake in his company long enough to see. It is supposed that when he sleeps it is with his mouth open.

  Maria Edgeworth

  Sleep, Long, Mouths

  Maria Edgeworth (1848). “Harrington ; Thoughts on bores ; and, Ormond”, p.209

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• When Anaxagoras was told of the death of his son, he only said, "I knew he was mortal." So we in all casualties of life should say "I knew my riches were uncertain, that my friend was but a man." Such considerations would soon pacify us, because all our troubles proceed from their being unexpected.

  Plutarch

  Son, Men, Riches

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• Sometimes I try my hand at turning out small profundities and uncertain short stories, but I always end up with just one single word: God.

  Etty Hillesum

  God, Hands, Trying

  Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.640, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

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• There is a story of some mountains of salt in Cumana, which never diminished, though carried away in much abundance by merchants; but when once they were monopolized to the benefit of a private purse, then the salt decreased; till afterward all were allowed to take of it, when it had a new access and increase. The truth of this story may be uncertain, but the application is true; he that envies others the use of his gifts decays then, but he thrives most that is most diffusive.

  Herbert Spencer

  Envy, Generosity, Mountain

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• Everyone's future is, in reality, uncertain and full of unknown treasures from which all may draw unguessed prizes.

  Lord Dunsany

  Future, Reality, Treasure

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• A man's longest purposes will be his best purposes. It is true, life is short and uncertain; but it is better to live on the short arc of a large circle than to describe the whole circumference of a small circle.

  Charles Henry Parkhurst

  Life Is Short, Men, Circles

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