Quotes about doubt

True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance.

— Akhenaton

Suspicions that the mind, of itself, gathers, are but buzzes; but suspicions that are artificially nourished and put into men's heads by the tales and whisperings of others, have stings.

— Francis Bacon

In contemplation, if a man begins with certainties he shall end in doubts; but if he be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.

— Francis Bacon

Philosophy when superficially studied, excites doubt, when thoroughly explored, it dispels it.

— Francis Bacon

Suspicion amongst thoughts are like bats amongst birds, they never fly by twilight.

— Francis Bacon

Who never doubted, never half believed. Where doubt is, there truth is -- it is her shadow.

— Philip James Bailey

Doubt is the incentive to truth and inquiry leads the way.

— Hosea Ballou

I wish I could be half as sure of anything as some people are of everything.

— Gerald Barzan

Neither in this world nor elsewhere is there any happiness in store for him who always doubts.

— Bhagavad Gita

If the Sun and Moon should doubt, They'd immediately Go out

— William Blake

Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.

— Christian Nevell Bovee

There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.

— Buddha

There was a castle called Doubting Castle, the owner whereof was Giant Despair.

— John Bunyan

Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair.

— Edmund Burke

The fearful unbelief is unbelief in yourself.

— Thomas Carlyle

Doubt, of whatever kind, can be ended by action alone.

— Thomas Carlyle

There is no greater folly in the world than for a man to despair.

— Miguel De Cervantes

Doubt is the vestibule through which all must pass before they can enter into the temple of wisdom.

— Charles Caleb Colton

Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt.

— Clarence Darrow

If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.

— Rene Descartes

Despair is the conclusion of fools.

— Benjamin Disraeli

Despair is the damp of hell, as joy is the serenity of heaven.

— John Donne

A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.

— Alexandre Dumas

Doubt, indulged and cherished, is in danger of becoming denial; but if honest, and bent on thorough investigation, it may soon lead to full establishment of the truth.

— Tryon Edwards

There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and have recovered hope.

— George Eliot

Doubt is the father of invention.

— Galileo Galilei

Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.

— Kahlil Gibran

Doubt can only be removed by action.

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I will listen to anyone's convictions, but pray keep your doubts to yourself.

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases.

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

He that knows nothing doubts nothing.

— George Herbert

To have doubted one's own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.

— George Iles

Everybody in the world thought we couldn't do it. But we did, dammit. [After winning the America's Cup]

— Bill Koch

An honest man can never surrender an honest doubt.

— Walter Malone

To doubt is worse than to have lost; And to despair is but to antedate those miseries that must fall on us.

— Philip Massinger

Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.

— H. L. Mencken

I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.

— Wilson Mizner

Doubt, the essential preliminary of all improvement and discovery, must accompany the stages of man's onward progress. The faculty of doubting and questioning, without which those of comparison and judgment would be useless, is itself a divine prerogative of the reason.

— Albert Pike

Great doubts deep wisdom. Small doubts little wisdom.

— Chinese Proverb

Doubt is the key to knowledge.

— Persian Proverb

The road to perseverance lies by doubt.

— Francis Quarles

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 Russell

In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.

— Bertrand Russell

Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise.

— William Shakespeare

Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we might win, by fearing to attempt.[Measure For Measure]

— William Shakespeare

Doubt is to certainty as neurosis is to psychosis. The neurotic is in doubt and has fears about persons and things; the psychotic has convictions and makes claims about them. In short, the neurotic has problems, the psychotic has solutions.

— Thomas Szasz

There lives more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds.

— Lord Alfred Tennyson

There is no rule more invariable than that we are paid for our suspicions by finding what we suspect.

— Henry David Thoreau

Faith keeps many doubts in her pay. If I could not doubt, I should not believe.

— Henry David Thoreau

Life is doubt, and faith without doubt is nothing but death.

— Miguel De Unamuno

Feed your faith and doubt will starve to death

— Source Unknown

When in charge ponder. When in trouble delegate. When in doubt mumble.

— Source Unknown

When in doubt, ask. When not in doubt, ask.

— Source Unknown

When you doubt, abstain.

— Zoroaster

There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.

— Buddha