“To believe with certainty we must begin with doubting.”

— Stanisław Leszczyński

No. 61.
Maxims and Moral Sentences

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Stanisław Leszczyński 10

king of Poland 1677–1766

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“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.”

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Context: 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.

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It is not odd at all. You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don't know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know.
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“We must doubt the certainty of everything which passes through the senses, but how much more ought we to doubt things contrary to the senses, such as the existence of God and the soul.”

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“It's not doubt that drives people crazy, it's certainty that does.”

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“If we want to be free, the women of the 21st century need to stop playing the game. We need to end our wary efforts to believe that our bodies are acceptable and begin to know, with a clear and billiant certainty, that our persons are powerful.”

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“In our worship of certainty we must distinguish between the sound certainty and the sham, between what is gold and what is tinsel; and then, when certainty is attained, we must remember that it is not the only good; that we can buy it at too high a price; that there is danger in perpetual quiescence as well as in perpetual motion; and that a compromise must be found in a principle of growth.”

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“The beginning of wisdom is found in doubting; by doubting we come to the question, and by seeking we may come upon the truth.”

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Variant: The key to wisdom is this - constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.

“115. If you tried to doubt everything you would not get as far as doubting anything. The game of doubting itself presupposes certainty.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein book On Certainty

Source: On Certainty (1969)

“To believe with certainty we must begin with doubting.”

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Stanisław Leszczyński 10

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