“Truly … as accidental as my Life may be, or as that random Humour is, which governs it; I know nothing, after all, so real or substantial as My-Self. Therefore if there be that Thing you call a Substance, I take for granted I am one. But for anything further relating to this Question, you know my Sceptick Principles: I determine neither way.”

— Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury

Vol. 2, p. 83; Part 3, Sect. 1 "Philocles to Palemon".
Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711)

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Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury 17

English politician and Earl 1671–1713

Robertson Davies (1913–1995) Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and novelist

Ham and Tongue.
One-Half of Robertson Davies (1977)
Context: I have never consciously "used" humour in my life. Such humour as I may have is one of the elements in which I live. I cannot recall a time when I was not conscious of the deep, heaving, rolling ocean of hilarity that lies so very near the surface of life in most of its aspects. If I am a moralist — and I suppose I am — I am certainly not a gloomy moralist, and if humour finds its way into my work it is because I cannot help it.

“God is only an idea in your mind. The fact is you. The only thing you know for sure is: ‘here and now I am.’ Remove the ’here and now’ the ‘I am’ remains, unassailable. (…). All I can say truly is: ‘I am,’ all else is inference (…). The sense ‘I am’ is the manifestation of a deeper cause, which you may call self, God, Reality or by any other name. (…).”

Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) Indian guru

God
Source: I am That, P.199.

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

Thomas Merton (1915–1968) Priest and author

Thoughts in Solitude (1956)

“You know what? As it relates to my brother, there is one thing I know for sure: he kept us safe.”

Jeb Bush (1953) American politician, former Governor of Florida

GOP Presidential Debate, FOX News, , quoted in [2015-09-16, Jeb Cites 9/11 Rubble in Claiming George W. Bush Kept America Safe, Ben Mathis-Lilley, Slate, http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/09/16/jeb_bush_9_11_rubble_video_says_brother_kept_america_safe.html]
2015

“You know that you are a human being, and I know that I am the Avatar. It is my whole life!”

Meher Baba (1894–1969) Indian mystic

To Paul Brunton in 1930, as quoted in Meher Prabhu: Lord Meher, The Biography of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba, Manifestation, Inc. 1986, by Bhau Kalchuri, p. 1349.
Lord Meher (1986)

“I'm not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I've always been a freak. So I've been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know. I'm one of those people.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

“I will look after you and I will look after anybody you say needs to be looked after, any way you say. I am here. I brought my whole self to you. I am your mother.”

Maya Angelou book Mom & Me & Mom

Source: Mom & Me & Mom

“One thing I know, that I know nothing. This is the source of my wisdom.”

Socrates (-470–-399 BC) classical Greek Athenian philosopher

“I have only [written the Water Margin] to fill up my spare time, and give pleasure to myself; […] I have written it so that the uneducated can read it as well as the educated […]. Alas! Life is so short that I shall not even know what the reader thinks about it, but still I shall be satisfied if a few of my friends will read it and be interested. Also I do not know what I may think of it in my future life after death, because then I may not able to even read it. So why think anything further about it?”

Shi Nai'an (1296–1372) Chinese writer

Variant translation by Pearl S. Buck: "Alas, I was born to die! How can I know what those who come after me and read my book will think of it? I cannot even know what I myself, born into another incarnation, will think of it. I do not even know if I myself afterwards can even read this book. Why therefore should I care?" (All Men are Brothers, 1933; p. xiii)
Preface to Water Margin

“Wisdom is knowing I am nothing,
Love is knowing I am everything,
and between the two my life moves.”

Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) Indian guru

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