#uncertainty

Whether it is good or evil, whether life in itself is pain or pleasure, whether it is uncertain-that it may perhaps be this is not important-but the unity of the world, the coherence of all events, the embracing of the big and the small from the same stream, from the same law of cause, of becoming and dying. ↗

— Hermann Hesse

#life #siddhartha #uncertainty #unity #life

The most self-damaging words in the English language are: try, might, and if. These are words of uncertainty. Will you fail? That is possible. But continue doubting your abilities and you’ll never succeed. ↗

— Dannika Dark

#ability #confidence #damaged #damaging #doubt

Maturity, one discovers, has everything to do with the acceptance of ‘not knowing. ↗

— Mark Z. Danielewski

#maturity #uncertainty #uncertainty

Waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one's thoughts. ↗

— Elisabeth Elliot

#waiting #uncertainty

Knowledge would be fatal. It is the uncertainty that charms one. A mist makes things wonderful. ↗

— Oscar Wilde

#uncertainty

Technology tends toward avoidance of risks by investors. Uncertainty is ruled out if possible. People generally prefer the predictable. Few recognize how destructive this can be, how it imposes severe limits on variability and thus makes whole populations fatally vulnerable to the shocking ways our universe can throw the dice. ↗

— Frank Herbert

#technology #uncertainty #technology

Even if it were possible to cast my horoscope in this one life, and to make an accurate prediction about my future, it would not be possible to 'show' it to me because as soon as I saw it my future would change by definition. This is why Werner Heisenberg's adaptation of the Hays Office—the so-called principle of uncertainty whereby the act of measuring something has the effect of altering the measurement—is of such importance. In my case the difference is often made by publicity. For example, and to boast of one of my few virtues, I used to derive pleasure from giving my time to bright young people who showed promise as writers and who asked for my help. Then some profile of me quoted someone who disclosed that I liked to do this. Then it became something widely said of me, whereupon it became almost impossible for me to go on doing it, because I started to receive far more requests than I could respond to, let alone satisfy. Perception modifies reality: when I abandoned the smoking habit of more than three decades I was given a supposedly helpful pill called Wellbutrin. But as soon as I discovered that this was the brand name for an antidepressant, I tossed the bottle away. There may be successful methods for overcoming the blues but for me they cannot include a capsule that says: 'Fool yourself into happiness, while pretending not to do so.' I should actually want my mind to be strong enough to circumvent such a trick. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#assistance #bupropion #depression #future #happiness

I used to be scared of uncertainty; now I get a high out of it. ↗

— Jensen Ackles

#high #i #now #out #scared

Listen, I think what's best for the economy and to create jobs is to extend all of the current tax rates - for all Americans. It - it begins to reduce the uncertainty. And for small businesspeople, they can look up and begin to plan. ↗

— John Boehner

#begin #begins #best #businesspeople #create

I think that what most artists are trying to do is trying to understand. I think what distinguishes creative people and/or artists from another type of person is perhaps a willingness to go headlong into that uncertainty. ↗

— Brandon Boyd

#artists #creative #creative people #distinguishes #go