“Our doubts about ourselves cannot be banished except by working at that which is the one and only thing we know we ought to do. Other people's assertions cannot silence the howling dirge within us. It is our talents rusting unused within us that secrete the poison of self-doubt into our bloodstream.” PeopleKnowsSelfSilenceDoubtTalentOughtPoisonAssertionSelf-doubt Author:Eric Hoffer
“The real spiritual journey is work. You can make a naïve assertion that you trust in Jesus, but until it is tested a good, oh, 200 times, I doubt very much that it's true.” RealSpiritualJesusDoubtJourneyTestedAssertionSpiritual Journey Author:Richard Rohr
“At length weariness succeeds to labor, and the mind lies at ease in the contemplation of her own attainments without any desire of new conquests or excursions. This is the age of recollection and narrative; the opinions are settled, and the avenues of apprehension shut against any new intelligence; the days that are to follow must pass in the inculcation of precepts already collected, and assertion of tenets already received; nothing is henceforward so odious as opposition, so insolent as doubt, or so dangerous as novelty.” MindAgeLyingDesireOpinionDoubtDangerousSucceedLaborOld AgeNarrativeEaseContemplationOppositionLengthConquestNoveltyAvenuesAttainmentAssertionRecollectionApprehensionWearinessInsolentExcursions Book:Selected essays Source: Selected essays
“Another error is an impatience of doubt and haste to assertion without due and mature suspension of judgment. For the two ways of contemplation are not unlike the two ways of action commonly spoken of by the ancients; the one plain and smooth in the beginning, and in the end impassable; the other rough and troublesome in the entrance, but after a while fair and even. So it is in contemplation; 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.” IfsMenWayTwoEndsActionDoubtHealthyJudgmentFairsErrorsDuesCertaintyContemplationRoughMatureSkepticismSmoothImpatienceTwo WaysAssertionHasteEntrancesTroublesomeSuspension Author:Francis Bacon
“The registering of doubts hath two excellent uses: the one, that it saveth philosophy from errors and falsehoods; when that which is not fully appearing is not collected into assertion, whereby error might draw error, but reserved in doubt: the other, that the entry of doubts are as so many suckers or sponges to draw use of knowledge; insomuch as that which, if doubts had not preceded, a man should never have advised, but passed it over without note, by the suggestion and solicitation of doubts, is made to be attended and applied.” IfsMenShouldMadeTwoPhilosophyUseMightDoubtHealthyDrawsErrorsNotesExcellentFalsehoodSkepticismSuggestionsReservedAssertionEntryAppearingSuckerSpongesSolicitationUse Of Knowledge Author:Francis Bacon
“The Holy Spirit is no Skeptic, & the things He has written in our hearts are not doubts or opinions, but assertions - surer & more certain than sense & life itself.” HeartSpiritCertainOpinionDoubtWrittenHolyHoly SpiritAssertionSkeptic Author:Martin Luther
“It would be a crime for me to say that Islam is a backward desert superstition that has no place in modern, enlightened Europe and it would be a crime to point out that Jewish settlers in Israel who believe they have a God given right to take the land are, frankly, mad. All the above assertions will, no doubt, offend someone or other.” BelieveWould BeGivenDoubtAtheismModernLandCrimeEuropeMadIslamIsraelDesertNo DoubtEnlightenedSuperstitionsAssertionSettlers Author:Ian O'Doherty