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Uncertainty Quotes

Browse 1345 quotes about Uncertainty.

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Uncertainty Quotes

“Courageous men never lose the zest for living even though their life situation is zestless; cowardly men, overwhelmed by the uncertainties of life, lose the will to live. We must constantly build dykes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.”

MenLosesSituationCourageUncertaintyCourageousFloodOverwhelmedCowardlyZestWill To LiveDykesCourageous ManUncertainty Of Life
Book:A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings
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“An argument is made that there are just too many question marks about the near future; wouldn't it be better to wait until things clear up a bit? You know the prose: "Maintain buying reserves until current uncertainties are resolved," etc. Before reaching for that crutch, face up to two unpleasant facts: The future is never clear and you pay a very high price for a cheery consensus. Uncertainty actually is the friend of the buyer of long-term values.”

KnowsLongMadeTwoFactsFacesValuesBitsWaitingTermPayClearArgumentMarkInvestingCurrentsUncertaintyLong TermProseBuyingReachingEtcInsightfulReservesConsensusBuyersCrutchesHigh PricesQuestion Mark
Author:Warren Buffett
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“To turn to the Lord and to trust him through revelation will help any individual, at any time, in any part of the world, understand and interpret correctly and righteously life's experiences from the only true perspective, which is the Lord's perspective revealed to man. To turn to the Lord and to trust his revelations is live in such a way as to resist the floods and the winds of doubt and uncertainty.”

MenWorldWayLifeHelpingTurnsIndividualLordDoubtWindPerspectiveIndividualityUncertaintyRevelationsFlood
Author:Charles A. Didier
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“However, optimism is highly valued, socially and in the market; people and firms reward the providers of dangerously misleading information more than they reward truth tellers. One of the lessons of the financial crisis that led to the Great Recession is that there are periods in which competition, among experts and among organizations, creates powerful forces that favor a collective blindness to risk and uncertainty.”

PeopleForcePowerfulRiskInformationPeriodsLessonsOptimismOrganizationCrisisCompetitionRewardsFinancialFavorsUncertaintyFirmExpertsCollectivesBlindnessMisleadRecessionsFinancial CrisisProvidersGreat Recession
Author:Daniel Kahneman
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“My biggest disappointment was, of course, the coup attempts, ... The economy was proceeding very well, but in 1989 we had the most serious coup attempt and ... many of the investors who were set to come here had to tell me that they chose to go to other countries because of the uncertainty brought about by (the coup attempt.) If that had not happened, I'm sure our economy would just be booming today.”

IfsWellsCountryTodayCoursesEconomyHappenedSeriousDisappointmentUncertaintyInvestorsOther CountriesProceedingCoups
Author:Corazon Aquino
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“I pursue no objectives, no systems, no tendency; I have no program, no style, no direction. I have no time for specialized concerns, working themes, or variations that lead to mastery. I steer clear of definitions. I don’t know what I want. I am inconsistent, non-committal, passive; I like the indefinite, the boundless; I like continual uncertainty.”

KnowsWantClearStyleConcernProgramDefinitionsObjectivesTendenciesPursueUncertaintyThemeMasteryPassiveVariationBoundlessSteersInconsistent
Book:Gerhard Richter: Forty Years of Painting
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“For every crime that comes before him, a judge is required to complete a perfect syllogism in which the major premise must be the general law; the minor, the action that conforms or does not conform to the law; and the conclusion, acquittal or punishment. If the judge were constrained, or if he desired to frame even a single additional syllogism, the door would thereby be opened to uncertainty.”

IfsDoeActionLawPerfectDoorsCrimeJudgingMajorsPunishmentConclusionUncertaintyMinorsConformPremisesAcquittal
Book:On crimes and punishments
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“In times of uncertainty there is a special breed of warrior ready to answer our Nation’s call; a common man with uncommon desire to succeed. Forged by adversity, he stands alongside America’s finest special operations forces to serve his country and the American people, and to protect their way of life. I am that man.”

PeopleMenWayCountryAmericaDesireForceNationsAnswersCommonSpecialReadySucceedProtectAdversityWarriorUncertaintyOperationsFinestUncommonCommon ManForgedSpecial ForcesDesire To SucceedSpecial Operations
Book:Lone Survivor: The Incredible True Story of Navy SEALs Under Siege
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“The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice. So long as men are not trained to withhold judgment in the absence of evidence, they will be led astray by cocksure prophets, and it is likely that their leaders will be either ignorant fanatics or dishonest charlatans. To endure uncertainty is difficult, but so are most of the other virtues.”

MenLongDifficultNaturalLeaderVirtueDemandJudgmentIntellectualEvidenceEndureVicesAbsenceIgnorantCertaintyUncertaintyProphetNeverthelessFanaticsCharlatans
Author:Bertrand Russell
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“The existing order is breaking down at a very rapid rate, and the main uncertainty is whether mankind can exert a positive role in shaping a new world order or is doomed to await collapse in a passive posture. We believe a new orderwill be born no later than early in the next century and that the death throes of the old and the birth pangs of the new will be a testing time for the human species.”

WorldBelieveHumansOrderNextBornRolesMankindCenturyBirthSpeciesRateJewUncertaintyNew WorldCollapsePassiveDoomedBreaking DownTestingRapidsCreepyPostureNew World OrderWorld OrderHuman SpeciesOld WorldNwo
Author:Richard A. Falk
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“The problems of this world are so gigantic that some are paralysed by their own uncertainty. Courage and wisdom are needed to reach out above this sense of helplessness. Desire for vengeance against deeds of hatred offers no solution. An eye for an eye makes the world blind. If we wish to choose the other path, we will have to search for ways to break the spiral of animosity. To fight evil one must also recognize one's own responsibility. The values for which we stand must be expressed in the way we think of, and how we deal with, our fellow humans.”

IfsThinkingWorldWayHumansProblemEyeDesireValuesFightingEvilWishDealsResponsibilityBreakPathThis WorldNeededOffersSolutionsHatredFellowsBlindDeedsUncertaintyBrotherhoodReach OutVengeanceHelplessnessSpiralsAnimosityEye For An Eye
Author:Beatrix of the Netherlands
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“An educated man must have a "curiosity in exploring the unfamiliar and unexpected, an open-mindedness in entertaining opposing points of view, tolerance for the ambiguity that surrounds so many important issues, and a willingness to make the best decisions he can in the face of uncertainty and doubt".”

MenImportantFacesDecisionViewsIssuesDoubtCuriosityPoint Of ViewToleranceEducatedUncertaintyUnexpectedWillingnessSurroundEntertainingExploringAmbiguityOpposingUnfamiliarOpen MindednessImportant IssuesEducated ManUncertainty And Doubt
Author:Derek Bok
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“The Principle of Tolerance, fixed once for all the realization that all knowledge is limited. It is an irony of history that at the very time when this was being worked out, there should rise, under Hitler in Germany and other tyrants elsewhere, a counter-conception: a principle of monstrous certainty. When the future looks back on the 1930's, it will think of them as a crucial confrontation of culture as I have been expounding it - the ascent of man against the throwback to the despots' belief that they have absolute certainty.”

ThinkingMenShouldLooksHas BeensFaithCultureBeliefPrinciplesAbsolutesCertaintyUncertaintyIronyFixedGermanyConceptionCrucialTyrantsElsewhereConfrontationMonstrous1930sRealisationAscentDespotsAbsolute CertaintyThrowback
Author:Jacob Bronowski
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“My greatest concern was what to call it. I thought of calling it 'information,' but the word was overly used, so I decided to call it 'uncertainty.' When I discussed it with John von Neumann, he had a better idea. Von Neumann told me, 'You should call it entropy, for two reasons. In the first place your uncertainty function has been used in statistical mechanics under that name, so it already has a name. In the second place, and more important, no one really knows what entropy really is, so in a debate you will always have the advantage.'”

KnowsShouldFirstsHas BeensTwoImportantIdeasReasonUsedNamesInformationCallingAdvantageConcernDecidedFunctionDebateUncertaintyMechanicNobody KnowsEntropySecond PlaceStatisticianVon Neumann
Author:Claude Shannon
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“In the closed circle of the war cabinet, pounded by terrible report after terrible report, there had been uncertainty about whether he could fend off the drift to exploring a deal with Hitler. The determination of the larger group trumped the tentativeness of the smaller, and Churchill fulfilled his role as leader by disentangling himself from defeatism--one of his singular achievements at the end of May 1940.”

MayWarEndsDealsLeaderRolesGroupsTerribleAchievementDeterminationCirclesUncertaintyReportsFulfilledExploringCabinets
Book:Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship
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“. . . it is interesting to note that the original problem that started my research is still outstanding - namely the problem of planning or scheduling dynamically over time, particularly planning dynamically under uncertainty. If such a problem could be successfully solved it could eventually through better planning contribute to the well-being and stability of the world.”

IfsWorldWellsArtStillsProblemTimeInterestingResearchOriginalsNotesPlanningWell BeingUncertaintyStabilityOutstandingScheduling
Author:George Dantzig
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“Clearly, sustained low inflation implies less uncertainty about the future, and lower risk premiums imply higher prices of stocks and other earning assets. We can see that in the inverse relationship exhibited by price/earnings ratios and the rate of inflation in the past. But how do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values, which then become subject to unexpected and prolonged contractions as they have in Japan over the past decade?”

KnowsPastValuesRiskSubjectsHigherLowsRateDecadesUncertaintyUnexpectedJapanAssetsIrrationalEarningInflationOver The PastRatiosExuberanceContractionsInverse
Author:Alan Greenspan
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“I spent a lot of years trying to outrun or outsmart vulnerability by making things certain and definite, black and white, good and bad. My inability to lean into the discomfort of vulnerability limited the fullness of those important experiences that are wrought with uncertainty: love, belonging, trust, joy, and creativity, to name a few.”

TryingYearsImportantJoyCertainNamesBlackWhiteLove IsCreativityUncertaintyVulnerabilityBelongingBlack And WhiteDefiniteInabilityGood And BadFullnessDiscomfortOutrun
Author:Brené Brown
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“Art is the heart's explosion on the world. Music. Dance. Poetry. Art on cars, on walls, on our skins. There is probably no more powerful force for change in this uncertain and crisis-ridden world than young people and their art. It is the consciousness of the world breaking away from the strangle grip of an archaic social order.”

PeopleWorldHeartArtYoungPoetryOrderForceSocialChangePowerfulConsciousnessMusicPowerCarWallArt IsSkinsCrisisDanceUncertaintyUncertainExplosionsSocial OrderWorld MusicStranglingBreaking Away
Author:Luis J. Rodriguez
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“Uncertainty hurts business. It annoys individuals. Why keep the whole country, including business and individuals, in uncertainty over the extent of the tax burdens to be placed upon us? How many of those who voted for Calvin Coolidge imagined for a moment that would do nothing to bring about tax relief before 1926?.... But if the Administration persists in opposing a special session then it will inevitably be 1926 before action is taken.... Coolidge and Congress should ease our minds and grease our activities by reforming and reducing taxation as soon as feasible after March 4.”

IfsShouldMindCountryWholeMomentsActionIndividualHurtTakenDoubtSpecialActivityTaxesIncludingCongressBurdenAdministrationUncertaintyEaseReliefMarchAnnoyingPersistTaxationSessionReducingOpposingGreaseTax Burden
Author:B. C. Forbes
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“For nearly a quarter of a century, I have been engaged in the investigation of the fundamentals of life, the material universe and human behavior. Such an adventure leads one down many highways, through many byroads, into many back alleys of uncertainty, through many strata of life...”

HumansHas BeensUniverseCenturyAdventureMaterialsBehaviorFundamentalsUncertaintyEngagedQuartersInvestigationHuman BehaviorHighwaysAlleysQuarter Of A CenturyBack Alleys
Author:L. Ron Hubbard
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“Your rainbow panorama enters into a dialogue with the existing architecture and reinforces what is assured beforehand, that is to say the view of the city. I have created a space which virtually erases the boundaries between inside and outside – where people become a little uncertain as to whether they have stepped into a work or into a part of the museum. This uncertainty is important to me, as it encourages people to think and sense beyond the limits within which they are accustomed to moving.”

PeopleThinkingLittlesImportantMovingSpaceViewsCitiesLimitsArchitectureBoundariesDialogueUncertaintyMuseumsRainbowUncertainAccustomedAssuredEraseInside And OutsidePanorama
Author:Olafur Eliasson
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