The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Christopher Bullock1 quote
'Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but death and taxes. — Christopher Bullock · 1716Epictetus1 quote
What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows. — Epictetus · 108Francis Bacon1 quote
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 · 1605John Stuart Mill1 quote
There is no such thing as absolute certainty, but there is assurance sufficient for the purposes of human life. — John Stuart Mill · 1859Laurens van der Post1 quote
Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right. — Laurens van der Post · 1958Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.1 quote
Certainty generally is illusion, and repose is not the destiny of man. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. · 1897Pliny the Elder1 quote
The only certainty is that nothing is certain. — Pliny the Elder · 77 BCSamuel Johnson1 quote
He is no wise man who will quit a certainty for an uncertainty. — Samuel Johnson · 1759Socrates1 quote
I know that I do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCVoltaire1 quote
Doubt is not a pleasant condition. But certainty is an absurd one. — Voltaire · 1770William James1 quote
Objective evidence and certitude are doubtless very fine ideals to play with, but where on this moonlit and dream-visited planet are they found? — William James · 1896