The significant contribution of empiricism was not the eradication of certainty, but the eradication of infallibility as a criterion of certainty. And this shift from infallibilism to fallibilism has profound consequences not only for toleration, but also for the subordination of faith to reason and theology to philosophy.
If we insist on being as sure as is conceivable. . . we must be content to creep along the ground, and never soar.
Such certainty is beautiful, but uncertainty is more beautiful still
Is there any evidence to the contrary? I don't need certainty in order to act on a well-founded suspicion.
If I am fool, it is, at least, a doubting one; and I envy no one the certainty of his self-approved wisdom.
If we have not found heaven within, it is a certainty we will not find it without.
I remembered standing in the middle of the street in front of The Crooked Bookshelf, filled with the certainty of a future. I had heard the wolves howling behind the house and remembered how glad I had been to be human.
Infinite possibility in all things is a certainty. That pretty much covers theology and philosophy for me.
In that world, you'll be able to rise in the morning with the spirit you had known in your childhood: that spirit of eagerness, adventure and certainty which comes from dealing with a rational universe.
The infinite reservoir of future grace is flowing back through the present into the ever-growing pool of past grace. The inexhaustible reservoir is invisible except through the promises. But the ever-enlarging pool of past grace is visible; and God means for the certainty and beauty and depth to strengthen our faith in future grace.
The very desire to be certain,to be secure,is the beginning of bondage. It's only when the mind is not caught in the net of certainty,and is not seeking certainty, that it is in a state of discovery.
I'm not resigned, but I'm realistic too. The statistics in my case are very poor. Not many people come through esophageal cancer and live to talk about it, or not for long. And the other wager is, the part of the wager, it's a certainty you'll have a terrible time and you may wish you were dying because it's an awful process.
I'm a scientist, not a theologian. I don't know if there is a God or not. Religion requires certainty.
What men really want is not knowledge but certainty.
Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, "What comes into your mind when you think about God?" we might predict with certainty the future of that man.
Certainty generally is illusion, and repose is not the destiny of man.
The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice.
I do not have easy days at home now and I drift between fear and helplessness in sunny rooms where it is unspeakably cold. Strange shudders of transformation, bodily experienced to the point of vulnerability, visions of mysteries until the certainty of having died, ecstasies to the point of stony petrifaction, and a continuation of dreaming sad dreams.
In this quest to seek and find God in all things, there is still an area of uncertainty. There must be. If a person says that he met God with total certainty and is not touched by a margin of uncertainty, then this is not good.
In the absence of certainty, instinct is all you can follow.
