quotations about doubt
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
BERTRAND RUSSELL
"The Triumph of Stupidity,", Mortals and Others
My soul's poisonous doubt is all-consuming. My soul is like the dead sea, over which no bird can fly; when it gets halfway, it sinks down spent to its death and destruction.
SOREN KIERKEGAARD
Either/or
Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages them, who does not slay them, thwarts himself at every step.
JAMES ALLEN
As a Man Thinketh
I must doubt everything, or realize my faith by exterminating every obstacle.
SABINE BARING-GOULD
The Origin and Development of Religious Belief: Christianity
Doubt is a profound and effective spiritual motivator. Without doubt, no truism is transcended, no new knowledge found, no expansion of the imagination possible. Doubt is unsettling to the ego, and those who are drawn to ideologies that promise the dispelling of doubt by proffering certainties will never grow. In seeking certainty they are courting the death of the soul, whose nature is forever churning possibility, forever seeking the larger, forever riding the melting edge of certainty's glacier.
JAMES HOLLIS
Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life
Doubt is often but as the putting away of childish things, preparatory to the reception of the deeper things of manhood.
ALEXANDER HENRY CRAUFURD
Enigmas of the Spiritual Life
Doubt is the pinprick in the life raft.
RANSOM RIGGS
Library of Souls
Christ never failed to distinguish between doubt and unbelief. Doubt is can't believe; unbelief is won't believe. Doubt is honesty; unbelief is obstinacy. Doubt is looking for light; unbelief is content with darkness.
HENRY DRUMMOND
How to Learn How
Doubt is excellent when it is a question of securing what we already possess, but it can be fatal if it impedes us in pursuit of what we seek.
CARLOS FUENTES
Terra Nostra
Suspect suspicion, and doubt only doubt.
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
"Deceit"
Nothing is more durable than the dynasty of Doubt; for he reigns in the hearts of all his people, but gives satisfaction to none of them, and yet he is the only despot who can never die, while any of his subjects live.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Doubt is a surly, envious, egotistic emotion, a bitter denial of everything but the sullen self.
RUSSELL KIRK
The Conservative Mind
Doubt must be no more than vigilance, otherwise it can become dangerous.
G.C. LICHTENBERG
"Notebook F,", Aphorisms
My Master said, on another Occasion, that those who doubt most, always erred least.
SAMUEL RICHARDSON
Pamela
Doubt is to certainty as neurosis is to psychosis. The neurotic is in doubt and has fears about persons and things; the psychotic has convictions and makes claims about them. In short, the neurotic has problems, the psychotic has solutions.
THOMAS SZASZ
"Mental Illness,", The Second Sin
Doubt, genuine doubt, is a good thing; not as an end, mark you, for so it is deadly, but as a means to an end.
DAVID JAMES BURRELL
The Gospel of Gladness
Doubt is not the opposite of confidence. Doubt can actually be a virtue; it is a form of self-reflection that anyone in a leadership position should exercise now and again. Having doubts about a course of action is a manifestation of a creative and lively mind, one that is engaged in the pursuit of a goal. The ability to question that pursuit means that you are open to change and circumstance. You may change or you may not, but at least you are open to the real world and the twists and turns it may toss you.
JOHN BALDONI
Lead By Example
Doubt comes in at the window when inquiry is denied at the door.
BENJAMIN JOWETT
Scripture and Truth
Doubt is the difficult mind state of perplexity. It's like being at a crossroads and now knowing which way to go. We go back and forth between alternatives and are then brought to a standstill by bewilderment and indecision. When doubt is overpowering, we can't move. It doesn't even allow us the opportunity to take a wrong turn and learn from our mistakes.
JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN
One Dharma
With knowledge grows doubt.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe