quotations about doubt
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
A lot of people see doubt as legitimate philosophical posture. They think of themselves in the middle, whereas of course really, they're nowhere.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
The Honourable Schoolboy
Doubt is a ghastly apparition.
CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit
The irritation of doubt causes a struggle to attain a state of belief.
CHARLES SANDERS PEIRCE
Values in a Universe of Chance
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.
FRANCIS BACON
The Advancement of Learning
Like belief, doubt takes a lot of different forms, from ancient Skepticism to modern scientific empiricism, from doubt in many gods to doubt in one God, to doubt that recreates and enlivens faith and doubt that is really disbelief.
JENNIFER MICHAEL HECHT
introduction, Doubt: A History
Doubt, it seems to me, is the central condition of a human being in the twentieth century.
SALMAN RUSHDIE
London Observer, Feb. 19, 1989
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
My Master said, on another Occasion, that those who doubt most, always erred least.
SAMUEL RICHARDSON
Pamela