On Certainty

If a Man will begin with certainties, he will end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he will end in certainties.’
— Francis Bacon

‘There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing.’
— Robert Burns

‘There is one thing certain, namely, that we can have nothing certain; therefore it is not certain that we can have nothing certain.’
— Samuel Butler

‘The more I produce, the less I am certain. On the road along which the artist walks, night falls ever more densely. Finally, he dies blind.’
— Albert Camus

‘No one travels so high as he who knows not where he is going.’
— Oliver Cromwell

‘Only two things are certain: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not certain about the universe.’
— Albert Einstein

‘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.’
— Albert Einstein

‘If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives.’
— Richard P. Feynman

‘Confusion is the welcome mat at the door of creativity.’
— Michael J. Gelb

‘When people are least sure, they are often most dogmatic.’
— John Kenneth Galbraith

‘Our firmest convictions are apt to be the most suspect, they mark our limitations and our bounds. Life is a petty thing unless it is moved by the indomitable urge to extend its boundaries.’
— José Ortega Y Gasset

‘We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand.’
— Eric Hoffer

‘I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart’s affections and the truth of imagination.’
— John Keats

‘There is nothing more certain and unchanging than uncertainty and change.’
— John Fitzgerald Kennedy

‘To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it.’
— Olin Miller

‘Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.’
— Friedrich Nietzsche

‘The only certainty is that nothing is certain.’
— Pliny the Elder

‘What men really want is not knowledge but certainty.’
— Bertrand Russell

‘Creativity can be described as letting go of certainties.’
— Gail Sheehy

‘Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is an absurd one.’
— Voltaire