Uncertainty Quotes - Page 11

• Riots and comedy are but symptoms of the times, profoundly revealing. They betray the psychological tone, the deep uncertainties....and the striving for something better, plus the fear that nothing would come of it all.

  Frank Herbert

  Tone, Comedy, Psychological

  Frank Herbert (2003). “Dune”, p.431, Penguin

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize As the dead carcasses of unburied men That do corrupt my air, I banish you; And here remain with your uncertainty!

  William Shakespeare

  Hate, Men, Air

  William Shakespeare, George Steevens, Alexander Chalmers, Henry Fuseli (1805). “Timon of Athens. Coriolanus. Julius Caesar. Antony and Cleopatra”, p.191

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Christians were never meant to be normal. We’ve always been holy troublemakers, we’ve always been creators of uncertainty, agents of dimension that’s incompatible with the status quo; we do not accept the world as it is, but we insist on the world becoming the way that God wants it to be. And the Kingdom of God is different from the patterns of this world.

  Jacques Ellul

  Change, God, Christian

  79 Copy quote

• Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing...Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation.

  Oswald Chambers

  Sadness, Mean, Expression

  4 Copy quote

• The truth is, we value your company, for want of any other. We have been left so much to our own devices—after a while one welcomes the uncertainty of being left to other people's.

  Tom Stoppard

  People, Want, Truth Is

  Tom Stoppard (2013). “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”, p.56, Faber & Faber

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Voldemort is playing a very clever game. Declaring himself might have provoked open rebellion. Remaining masked has created confusion, uncertainty, and fear.

  J. K. Rowling

  Clever, Fear, Games

  4 Copy quote

• I'm tired of being scared, and I know you are too. Not that there isn't alot to be scared of in this world today, between the non-stop headlines about wars and nuclear power plants and terrorists and assasinations and civil unrest and economic uncertainty and political doublespeak and insane weather and an environment that's becoming unhealthier by the day. But a point comes when it's too much to deal with, and thinking about it accomplishes nothing more than sending you to bed with a cold cloth on your head.

  Sylvia Browne

  War, Tired, Thinking

  Sylvia Browne, Lindsay Harrison (2010). “End Of Days: Predictions and prophecies about the end of the world”, p.6, Hachette UK

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Uncertainty is a quality to be cherished, therefore – if not for it, who would dare to undertake anything?

  Auguste de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam

  Quality, Dare, Ifs

  7 Copy quote

• Lastly, the great uncertainty of all data in War is a peculiar difficulty, because all action must, to a certain extent, be planned in a mere twilight, which in addition not unfrequently — like the effect of a fog or moonshine — gives to things exaggerated dimensions and an unnatural appearance.

  Carl von Clausewitz

  War, Twilight, Data

  "On War".

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Apprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion.

  Florence Nightingale

  Nursing, Nurse, Expectations

  Florence Nightingale (1992). “Notes on Nursing: What it Is, and what it is Not”, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

  48 Copy quote

  Show source

• Mathematics as an expression of the human mind reflects the active will, the contemplative reason, and the desire for aesthetic perfection. Its basic elements are logic and intuition, analysis and construction, generality and individuality. Though different traditions may emphasize different aspects, it is only the interplay of these antithetic forces and the struggle for their synthesis that constitute the life, usefulness, and supreme value of mathematical science.

  Richard Courant

  Struggle, Expression, Perfection

  Richard Courant, Herbert Robbins, Ian Stewart (1996). “What is Mathematics?: An Elementary Approach to Ideas and Methods”, p.23, Oxford University Press, USA

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• You must not procrastinate. Rather, you should make preparations so that even if you did die tonight, you would have no regrets. If you develop an appreciation for the uncertainty and imminence of death, your sense of the importance of using your time wisely will get stronger and stronger.

  Dalai Lama

  Appreciation, Regret, Procrastination

  9 Copy quote

• In horror of death, I took to the mountains - again and again I meditated on the uncertainty of the hour of death, capturing the fortress of the deathless unending nature of mind. Now all fear of death is over and done.

  Milarepa

  Buddhist, Mind, Mountain

  100 Copy quote

• The uncertainty of the danger belongs to the essence of terrorism.

  Jurgen Habermas

  Essence, Transcendentalism, Terrorism

  15 Copy quote

• We must, therefore, be confident that the general measures we have adopted will produce the results we expect. most important in this connection is the trust which we must have in our lieutenants. consequently, it is important to choose men on whom we can rely and to put aside all other considerations. if we have made appropriate preparations, taking into account all possible misfortunes, so that we shall not be lost immediately if they occur, we must boldly advance into the shadows of uncertainty.

  Carl von Clausewitz

  Military, Men, Preparation

  Carl von Clausewitz (2012). “Principles of War”, p.41, Courier Corporation

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• War is the province of chance. In no sphere of human activity is such a margin to be left for this intruder. It increases the uncertainty of every circumstance, and deranges the course of events.

  Carl von Clausewitz

  Military, War, Events

  "The Essential Clausewitz: Selections from On War".

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• All my life I believed I knew something. But then one strange day came when I realized that I knew nothing, yes, I knew nothing. And so words became void of meaning. I have arrived too late at ultimate uncertainty.

  Ezra Pound

  Despair, Too Late, Void

  30 Copy quote

• To live in poverty is to live with constant uncertainty, to accept galling indignities, and to expect harassment by the police, welfare officials and employers, as well as by others who are poor and desperate.

  Barbara Ehrenreich

  Expectations, Police, Poverty

  Barbara Ehrenreich (1989). “FEAR OF FALLING”, Pantheon

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• Through fear of resembling one another, through horror of having to submit, through uncertainty as well, through skepticism and complexity, there is a multitude of individual little beliefs for the triumph of strange little individuals.

  Andre Gide

  Littles, Triumph, Belief

  Andre Gide (2017). “Pretexts: Reflections on Literature and Morality”, p.34, Routledge

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• I'm sad to report that in the past few years, ever since uncertainty became our insistent 21st century companion, leadership has taken a great leap backwards to the familiar territory of command and control.

  Margaret J. Wheatley

  Leadership, Taken, Past

  14 Copy quote

• Nothing is secure. That is my message. Nothing can be secure, because a secure life will be worse than death. Nothing is certain. Life is full of uncertainties, full of surprises - that is its beauty! You can never come to a moment when you can say, "Now I am certain." When you say you are certain, you simply declare your death, you have committed suicide.

  Rajneesh

  Life, Suicide, Messages

  8 Copy quote

• It is very natural for young men to be vehement, acrimonious and severe. For as they seldom comprehend at once all the consequences of a position, or perceive the difficulties by which cooler and more experienced reasoners are restrained from confidence, they form their conclusions with great precipitance. Seeing nothing that can darken or embarrass the question, they expect to find their own opinion universally prevalent, and are inclined to impute uncertainty and hesitation to want of honesty, rather than of knowledge.

  Samuel Johnson

  Honesty, Men, Want

  Samuel Johnson (1827). “The Rambler”, p.110

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• To tell of disappointment and misery, to thicken the darkness of futurity, and perplex the labyrinth of uncertainty, has been always a delicious employment of the poets

  Samuel Johnson

  Disappointment, Darkness, Labyrinth

  Samuel Johnson (2009). “The Lives of the Poets: A Selection”, p.422, OUP Oxford

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Science is founded on uncertainty. Each time we learn something new and surprising, the astonishment comes with the realization that we were wrong before.

  Lewis Thomas

  Learning, Science, Realization

  9 Copy quote

• People without financial knowledge, who take advice from financial experts are like lemmings simply following their leader. They race for the cliff and leap into the ocean of financial uncertainty, hoping to swim to the other side.

  Robert Kiyosaki

  Inspirational, Ocean, Race

  8 Copy quote