Top 185 Certainty Quotes

I’ve always been envious of certainty, of people who always seemed to have a plan for their lives.

‘Et Tu, Babe’ was born out of my absolute certainty that a writer’s life was solitary and insular, and I was happy with that. I love reading and writing; it’s my whole life.

I don’t have Gandalf the White’s certainty about everything.

Isn’t it the moment of most profound doubt that gives birth to new certainties? Perhaps hopelessness is the very soil that nourishes human hope; perhaps one could never find sense in life without first experiencing its absurdity.

Absolute certainty is not something I strive for anymore. I’ve learned the hard way that destiny usually looks upon our most strident convictions with amusement, or perhaps even pity.

Together, the western elites and Gaddafi helped to lead us into a simplistic two-dimensional vision of the world – full of exaggerations and falsehoods. A fake bubble of certainty that has imprisoned us in the West – and is now preventing us from understanding what is really going on in the world outside.

If we must not act save on a certainty, we ought not to act on religion, for it is not certain. But how many things we do on an uncertainty, sea voyages, battles!

One of my favorite things about what I do for a living is that there is no certainty that, at any hour of any day, I could get a phone call that could change everything. Good or bad. I never know.

The language of judicial decision is mainly the language of logic. And the logical method and form flatter that longing for certainty and for repose which is in every human mind. But certainty generally is illusion, and repose is not the destiny of man.

Doubt is important because it suggests progress. Total certainty can mean there’s no assessment of things. Doubt, if you don’t panic, can allow newness to come in and challenge something that’s an established mode.

Audiences aren’t going to get rid of me. One thing I can say, with absolute certainty, is that my shows will still be performed when I’m dead, buried and forgotten. They’re going to absolutely outlive me, which is a wonderful thing to think about.

Businesses need certainty, to see clearly the rules of engagement for investing in South Africa.

The judgements about the severity of the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of a mass destruction – WMD – were presented with a certainty that was not justified.

People, chained by monotony, afraid to think, clinging to certainties… they live like ants.

Certainty regarding your career aged 15 is very unusual.

The literal resurrection of every soul who has lived and died on earth is a certainty, and surely one should make careful preparation for this event. A glorious resurrection should be the goal of every man and woman, for resurrection will be a reality.

Our discussions of the economy may sometimes ring in the ears of the public with more certainty than is appropriate.

Once upon a time, growing up male gave little boys a sense of certainty about the natural order of things. We had short hair, wore pants, and played baseball. Girls had long hair, wore skirts, and, no matter how hard they tried, always threw a baseball just like a girl.

You have to test your hypothesis against other theories. Certainty in the face of complex situations is very dangerous.

The new always happens against the overwhelming odds of statistical laws and their probability, which for all practical, everyday purposes amounts to certainty; the new therefore always appears in the guise of a miracle.

A bird in hand is a certainty. But a bird in the bush may sing.

Goalkeepers need to have some stability, some certainty and some freedom to make mistakes knowing that you’re not going to have to pay the consequences, other than conceding a goal.

Psychologists have set about describing the true nature of women with a certainty and a sense of their own infallibility rarely found in the secular world.

Even as a teenager, I felt that for whatever reason that we were living very close to the end of human history. And now at my age I believe that with almost an increasing certainty.

To some people, the impossible is impossible. One fine day, they wake up in the morning knowing that they will never hold the moon in their hands, and with the certainty, perfect peace descends on them.

Premature certainty is the enemy of the truth.

I’m a scientist, not a theologian. I don’t know if there is a God or not. Religion requires certainty.

We must always remember that all medical interventions have risk, and very little can be asserted with 100 percent certainty.

The problem with certainty is that sometimes it can sound cold and heartless, although it is the most compassionate and supportive answer.

When we deal with questions relating to principles of law and their applications, we do not suddenly rise into a stratosphere of icy certainty.

The truth is you cannot decrease the severity and certainty of sentences without increasing crime. It’s simply impossible.

Only a very bad theologian would confuse the certainty that follows revelation with the truths that are revealed. They are entirely different things.

When the human mind exists in the light of reason and no more than reason, we may say with absolute certainty that Man and all that made him will be in that instant gone.

To achieve policy stability and certainty, we need to establish a meaningful price on carbon and cut the billions of dollars spent each year on fossil-fuel subsidies, along with well-structured financial tools and rules.

Since we don’t know with any certainty what specific aptitudes today’s students will need tomorrow, we need to ensure they have the critical thinking and problem-solving abilities that extend beyond any one technology or program.

You can safely appeal to the United Nations in the comfortable certainty that it will let you down.

If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.

Certainty, and the innovation that thrives in a climate of certainty, are key to progress.

Moral certainty, clear standards, and a commitment to spiritual ideals will set you apart in a world that searches for meaning.

Nothing will deter crime but the certainty of punishment.

We regard it as a certainty that the earth, enclosed between poles, is bounded by a spherical surface.

I am certain there is too much certainty in the world.

One of the odd things about being a writer is that you never reach a point of certainty, a point of mastery where you can say, ‘Right. Now I understand how this is done.’

The best thing about science is that hard, empirical answers are always there if you look hard enough. The best thing about religion is that the very absence of that certainty is what requires – and gives rise to – deep feelings of faith.

It is a certainty that Herbalife is a pyramid scheme. We believe it’s harming a population of low-income, principally Hispanic people in the U.S. to benefit a handful of super wealthy people at the top of the pyramid.

Unfortunately, poetry is not born in noise, in crowds, or on a bus. There have to be four walls and the certainty that the telephone will not ring. That’s what writing is all about.

The unique and supreme voluptuousness of love lies in the certainty of committing evil. And men and women know from birth that in evil is found all sensual delight.

The thing the Buddhists and the Sufis have in common is a belief that religious certainties are destructive.

I have devoted my life to uncertainty. Certainty is the death of wisdom, thought, creativity.

We need a transitional Brexit deal that provides maximum certainty and stability. Labour will deliver it.

It is to be feared that those who emigrate to New South Wales, generally anticipate too great facility in their future operations and certainty of success in conducting them; but they should recollect that competency cannot be obtained without labour.

EPA takes its Clean Air Act responsibilities seriously and is committed to providing certainty to state and industry partners. We will not use our authority to pick winners and losers in the energy marketplace.

The British Museum was founded with a civic purpose: to allow the citizen, through reasoned inquiry and comparison, to resist the certainties that endanger free society and are still among the greatest threats to our liberty.

Inspiration has become this word that people tend to talk about as something from the outside. The truth is that… it is inside, like a burning fire: it is the feeling of certainty that your life has a meaning and you’ll do something important.

What has always surprised me when I walk into a bookstore is the number of books that you can find that are written with certainty. The authors tell some story as though it’s true, but they don’t have any evidence that it is true!

And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human.