“The only certainty is that nothing is certain.”

Fuller version: This series of instances entangles unforeseeing mortality, so that among these things but one thing is in the least certainthat nothing certain exists, and that nothing is more pitiable, or more presnmptuous, than man! In Latin: Quae singula inprovidam mortalitatem involvunt, solum ut inter ista vel certu sit nihil esse certi nec quicquam miserius homine aut superbius.
Book II, sec. 5.
Naturalis Historia

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The only certainty is that nothing is certain." by Pliny the Elder?
Pliny the Elder photo
Pliny the Elder 31
Roman military commander and writer 23–79

Related quotes

Michael Crichton photo

“I am certain there is too much certainty in the world.”

State of Fear (2004)

Will Durant photo
Clive Barker photo
Guy De Maupassant photo

“The only certainty is death.”

Source: Bel-Ami

“There is no certainty; there is only adventure.”

Roberto Assagioli (1888–1974) Italian psychiatrist and pioneer (1888-1974)
Bram van Velde photo

“Mondrian... The constructivists?... They had certainties. They wanted a stable basis to work on, but I’m afraid that that was enormous arrogance on their part. Nothing is stable and no certainties are possible.”

Bram van Velde (1895–1981) Dutch painter

11 August 1972; p. 90
1970's, Conversations with Samuel Beckett and Bram van Velde (1970 - 1972)

“Certainties are arrived at only on foot.”

Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Argentinian poet

Las certidumbres sólo se alcanzan con los pies.
Voces (1943)

Jean Tinguely photo

“Static, static, static! Be static! Be static! Movement is static! Movement is static! Movement is static because it is the only immutable thing - the only certainty, the only unchangeable. The only certainty is that movement is static.”

Jean Tinguely (1925–1991) Swiss painter and sculptor

Quoted in: Guy Brett, ‎Hayward Gallery, ‎Museu d'Art Contemporani (Barcelona, Spain) (2000) Force fields: phases of the kinetic. p. 250.
Quotes, 1950's, Static static, static !, 1959

Related topics