Sayings about Certainty
Mistrust is the mother of certainty. ~ French Proverb
To be uncertain is to be uncomfortable, but to be certain is to be ridiculous. ~ Chinese Proverb
It is precisely the uncertainty of this world that makes life worth living. ~ Japanese Proverb
There is nothing certain, but the uncertain. ~ Traditional Proverb
Just as a medicine may not cure a serious illness, wine will certainly not dispel your grief. ~ Chinese Proverb
Two farmers each claimed to own a certain cow. While one pulled on its head and the other pulled on its tail, the cow was milked by the lawyer. ~ Hebrew Proverb
One is certain only of death. ~ Yiddish Proverb
The worst is not always certain but it’s very likely. ~ French Proverb
Unlaid eggs are uncertain chickens. ~ Dutch Proverb
Quit not certainty for hope. ~ Traditional Proverb
No gain is so certain as that which proceeds from the economical use of what you already have. ~ Latin Proverb
We lose the certain things, while we seek the uncertain ones. ~ Latin Proverb
To believe in certainty, we must begin by doubting. ~ Polish Proverb
There are three uncertainties: woman, wind, and wealth. ~ Indian Proverb
Only death is certain.~ Maltese Proverb
If you are going to sit on it for three years, the seat will certainly get warm. ~ Japanese Proverb
What wise men suppose is worth more than the certainties of fools. ~ Arabian Proverb
Nothing is certain but death and taxes. ~ Traditional Proverb
If you don’t understand it with a wink, you certainly will with a blow. ~ Moroccan Proverb
A fruit tree that grows in a dung heap will certainly blossom. ~ Solomon Islander Proverb
Who can say with certainty that one will live to see the morrow? ~ Tibetan Proverb
There’s no insurance against death and poverty. ~ Yiddish Proverb
A child is a certain sorrow and uncertain joy. ~ Swedish Proverb
Quotations about Certainty
A woman’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty. ~ Rudyard Kipling
Certitude is not the test of certainty. We have been cock-sure of many things that were not so.~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
The only certainty is that nothing is certain. ~ Pliny The Elder
He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder. ~ Tad Williams
Only one thing is certain — that is, nothing is certain. If this statement is true, it is also false. ~ Ancient Paradox
No great deed is done by flatterers who ask for certainty.~ George Eliot
Certainties are arrived at only on foot. ~ Antonio Porchia
Education is the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.~ Mark Twain Quotes
We are not certain, we are never certain. If we were we could reach some conclusions, and we could, at last, make others take us seriously. ~ Albert Camus
Doubt is not a pleasant mental state, but certainty is a ridiculous one. ~ Voltaire
We delight in one knowable thing, which comprehends all that is knowable; in one apprehensible, which draws together all that can be apprehended; in a single being that includes all, above all in the one which is itself the all. ~ Giordano Bruno
Who knows whether the gods will add tomorrow to the present hour? ~ Horace
The odds are six to five that the light in the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train. ~ Paul Dickson
If you do know that here is one hand, we’ll grant you all the rest. ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein
What men want is not knowledge, but certainty.~ Bertrand Russell
There are only two things you have to do in life. You have to die. You have to live until you die. You make up all the rest. ~ Author Unknown
One must verify or expel his doubts, and convert them into the certainty of Yes or No. ~ Thomas Carlyle
A reasonable probability is the only certainty.~ Edgar Watson Howe
Unpredictability, too, can become monotonous. ~ Eric Hoffer
It is not certain that everything is uncertain. ~ Blaise Pascal
The more I see the less I know for sure. ~ John Lennon
The two hardest things to handle in life are failure and success. ~ Author Unknown
Events are never absolute, their outcome depends entirely upon the individual. Misfortune is a stepping stone for a genius, a piscina for a Christian, a treasure for a man of parts, and an abyss for a weakling. ~ Honore de Balzac
I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth; and truth rewarded me. ~ Sylvia Ashton Warner
A chuck under the chin is worth two kisses. ~ Jonathan Swift
All that lies betwixt the cradle and the grave is uncertain. ~ Seneca
There is nothing certain in a man’s life but that he must lose it. ~ Owen Meredith
Live on doubts; it becomes madness or stops entirely as soon as we pass from doubt to certainty.~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld
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 best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. ~ William Butler Yeats
The longing for certainty… is in every human mind. But certainty is generally illusion.~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
It is the dull man who is always sure, and the sure man who is always dull. ~ H. L. Mencken
There is nothing so uncertain as a sure thing. ~ Scotty Bowman
When we are not sure, we are alive. ~ Graham Greene
The present is the only reality and the only certainty.~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Certainty is the mother of quiet and repose, and uncertainty the cause of variance and contentions. ~ Lord Edward Coke
When the mind is in a state of uncertainty the smallest impulse directs it to either side. ~ Terence
If you have a choice between certainty and hope, choose certainty every time. ~ Author Unknown
What makes friendship indissolute and what doubles its charms is a feeling we find lacking in love: I mean certitude. ~ Honore de Balzac
To be positive: to be mistaken at the top of one’s voice. ~ Ambrose Bierce
I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart’s affections, and the truth of imagination. ~ John Keats
Positiveness is an absurd foible. If you are in the right, it lessens your triumph; if in the wrong, it adds shame to your defeat. ~ Laurence Sterne
Science has proof without any certainty. Creationists have certainty without any proof.~ Charles Edward Montague
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. ~ Bertrand Arthur William Russell
There is nothing certain except the unforeseen. ~ Author Unknown
Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is unchangeable or certain. ~ John F. Kennedy Quotes
We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand. ~ Eric Hoffer
Most men make the voyage of life as if they carried sealed orders which they were not to open till they were fairly in mid-ocean. ~ James Russell Lowell
As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns; the one we don’t know we don’t know. ~ Donald Rumsfeld
I have lived in this world just long enough to look carefully the second time into things that I am the most certain of the first time. ~ Josh Billings
Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. ~ Benjamin Franklin Quotes
Inquiry is fatal to certainty.~ William J. Durant
We do know of certain knowledge that he [Osama bin Laden] is either in Afghanistan, or in some other country, or dead. ~ Donald Rumsfeld
Do not feel certain of anything. ~ Bertrand Arthur William Russell
Jealousy feeds upon suspicion, and turns into fury or it ends as soon as we pass from suspicion to certainty.~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld
In these matters the only certainty is that there is nothing certain. ~ Pliny The Elder
With each sunrise, we start anew. ~ Author Unknown
Suggested reading: Certainty-uncertainty – and the Attitudinal Space in Between – External link
