The only certainty is that nothing is certain. Pliny the Elder
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
I believe in intuitions and inspirations ... I sometimes FEEL that I am right. I do not KNOW that I am. Albert Einstein
More important than the quest for certainty is the quest for clarity. Francois Gautier
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. Voltaire
It is the dull man who is always sure, and the sure man is always dull. H L Mencken
I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart’s affections and the truth of the imagination. John Keats
Unlike the powerful I was not so arrogant as to be sure my actions were righteous. Certainty is the disease of kings, maestro. The Assassination of Richard Nixon 2004 starring Sean Penn & Don Cheadle & Jack Thompson & Naomi Watts & Brad William Henke & Michael Wincott & Mykelti Williamson et al, director Niels Mueller
It is only because of their stupidity that they are able to be so sure of themselves. Franz Kafka
We gaze with quizzical wonder on the religious zealot frozen without – in a state of cold certainty – yet burning within like a brazier for a brand of religion that at best is beset with impurities. The certainty of the zealot contrasts with the quantum puzzlement we feel in a varied and uncertain universe. esias, ‘Hi, I’m Elohim: The Trouble With God’
I am sure, Vic. A Kind of Loving 1962 starring Alan Bates & Thora Hird & June Ritchie & Bert Palmer & Pat Keen & James Bolam & Jack Smethurst & Gwen Nelson & John Ronane & David Mahlowe & Patsy Rowlands & Michael Deacon & Leonard Rossiter et al, director Joseph Schlesinger, her to him
Like Cantor, Boltzmann’s ideas were out of step with his times. Cantor had undermined the ideal of a timeless and perfect logic in maths; Bolzmann’s formula and his destiny was to undermine the ideal of a timeless order in physics. Together their ideas were part of a general undermining of certainty in the wider world outside maths and physics. Dangerous Knowledge I, BBC 2007
From principles is derived probability, but truth or certainty is obtained only from facts. Tom Stoppard
Uncertainty Principle: We simply cannot know anything with absolute certainty. The Universe s7e5: Microscopic Universe, History 2012
Who really knows?
Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation?
The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen? Nasadiya Sukta, Rig Veda
One thing is that I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs, in different degrees of certainty, about different things. But I’m not absolutely sure of anything and of many things I don’t know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we’re here and what the question might mean. I might think about it a little bit, if I can’t figure it out, then I go on to something else. But I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn’t frighten me. Richard Feynman, interview BBC Horizon 1981
I suppose therefore that all things I see are illusions; I believe that nothing has ever existed of everything my lying memory tells me. I think I have no senses. I believe that body, shape, extension, motion, location are functions. What is there then that can be taken as true? Perhaps only this one thing, that nothing at all is certain. Rene Descartes
Our aim as scientists is objective truth; more truth, more interesting truth, more intelligible truth. We cannot reasonably aim at certainty. Once we realize that human knowledge is fallible, we realize also that we can never be completely certain that we have not made a mistake. Karl Popper, In Search of a Better World, 1984