Quotes about doubt

page 9

“But pain… seems to me an insufficient reason not to embrace life. Being dead is quite painless. Pain, like time, is going to come on regardless. Question is, what glorious moments can you win from life in addition to the pain?”

“I prefer rationalism to atheism. The question of God and other objects-of-faith are outside reason and play no part in rationalism, thus you don't have to waste your time in either attacking or defending.”

“every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer…”

“I never wanted to be feared. If I regret one thing, it is the fear I have caused. Fear is the tool of tyrants. Unfortunately, when the fate of the world is in question, you use whatever tools are available.”

“When a question has no correct answer, there is only one honest response.
The gray area between yes and no.
Silence.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked.
It was a good question.”

“Question (from a reader) : Will the Wise Goddess Athena overthrow Zeus and become the ruler of Olympus?
Athena's answer : What an interesting idea… No, just kidding, Dad. Put away the lightning bolt.”

“To love--to fall--is not a question.
To touch--to kiss--to speak--those are questions.”

“Torn between fear and something that resembled love, she wrestled with questions she never dreamed she would face: How could she leave? Then again, how could she stay?”

“Let me ask you a question Alex. What do you think is the greatest evil on this plant today?"
"Is that including, or not including you?”

“Whenever I start a novel, I'm always looking for two things: a bit of science that makes me go 'what if?' and a piece of history that ends in a question mark.”

“Now, you'll have to answer my questions."
"Oh, very well," Set said. "I like Brazil for the World Cup. I'd advise investing in platinum and small-cap funds. And your lucky numbers this week are 2, 13--"
"Not those questions!" Menshikov snapped.”

“Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no fibs.”

“I regret nothing. There have been things I missed, but I ask no questions, because I have loved it, such as it has been, even the moments of emptiness, even the unanswered-and that I loved it, that is the unanswered in my life.”

“When the woman took the earbud, he didn't ask another question. She was a woman on a mission as she placed the tiny device in her ear and said, "This is Special Agent Abby Cameron. Let me talk to Macey McHenry.”

“Ari felt like, Hellooo, I have wings! I turn into a wolf! Blending is out is out of the question!”

“Sometimes there would be someone else out there, someone she didn't know, but when they saw each other each would nod, as if making a secret pact. No question, no small talk.. agreed”

“Question: When you’re one of the few people who can do something to fix a problem, just how responsible does that make you for it? Answer: It’s how you choose to answer that question that defines you.”

“So why am I depressed? That's the million-dollar question, baby, the Tootsie Roll question; not even the owl knows the answer to that one. I don't know either. All I know is the chronology.”

“Suddenly question number four popped into my mind. Have you thought about how this relationship will end?”

“The original question, 'Can machines think?' I believe to be too meaningless to deserve discussion.”

“Did you hotwire this car?" I then rephrased my question. "Did you STEAL this car?”

“Which leaves us to the question, what is he up to?" Evanlyn said.
Will shrugged. "I suppose we'll find out soon enough," he said, and urged Tug forward to take up the point position once more.

They found out the following evening.”

“Do not let what you think they think of you make you stop and question everything you are.”

“WHEN SOMEONE SAYS, It’s the Squirrel, you don’t ask questions.”

“That question is too good to spoil with an answer.”

“Every scene should be able to answer three questions: "Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?”

“No. Haven’t you been listening?”

Marcus would always remember that moment. It was to be the first time he would ever be faced with that most vexing of female quirks: the question that had nothing but wrong answers.”

“I've got death inside me. It's just a question of whether or not I can outlive it.”

“Who are you?'
I didn't understand the question.
I'm Uri', he said. 'What's your name?'
I gave him my name. 'Stopthief.”

“The question, O me! so sad, recurring -
What good amid these, O me, O life?
That you are here - that life
exists and identity,
that the powerful play goes on,
and you may contribute a verse.”

“I don't think anybody cares about unwed mothers unless they're black or poor. The question is not morality, the question is money. That's what we're upset about.”

“And she keeps saying, how can you do this to me?

And i want to scream, what do you mean, how can I do this to you? Aren't we confusing our pronouns here? The question, really, is How could I do this to myself?”

“What seems to be love beyond any question is usually a simple case of indigestion.”

“It took turns that people couldn’t foresee or even understand, leaving a long trail of regret in its wake. And almost always, those regrets led to the kinds of what if questions that could never be answered.”

“I hate it when you answer a question with a question."
"No you don't, you think it's charming.”

“Question your tea spoons.”

“Good girls don't hurt other people's feelings. Good girls are not overly aggressive, competitive, or boastful. Good girls please others. But what good girls are good for is another question.”

“I don't know where we should take this company, but I do know that if I start with the right people, ask them the right questions, and engage them in vigorous debate, we will find a way to make this company great.”

“Remember, an easy question can have an easy answer. But a hard question must have a hard answer. And for the hardest questions of all, there may be no answer - except faith.”

“Self-respect is a question of recognizing that anything worth having has a price.”

“it's not a question but a lesson learned in time”

“There is no such thing as no choice. There is always a choice. The only question is whether it's a bearable one.”

“Never question the truth of what you fail to understand, for the world is filled with wonders.”

“Can a magician kill a man by magic?” Lord Wellington asked Strange.
Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. “I suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never could.”

“When a wise man does not understand, he says: "I do not understand." The fool and the uncultured are ashamed of their ignorance. They remain silent when a question could bring them wisdom.”

“Never question the sanity of a woman who can render you defenseless with a look.”

“Maybe this is not a come-down-from-the-ledge story. But I tell it with the thought that the woman on the ledge will ask herself a question, the question that occurred to that man in Bogota. He wondered how we know that what happens to us isn't good?”

“ARE YOU CRAZY?" I ASKED.
He gave me the same wordless look he always did when I asked that question.”

“How does it taste?” Carter wondered.
Zia smiled. “Stick out your tongue.”
To answer Carter’s question, the tattoo tasted like burning car tires.
“Ugh.” I spit a blue gob of “order and harmony” into the fountain.”

“don’t write out of what I know; I write out of what I wonder. I think most artists create art in order to explore, not to give the answers. Poetry and art are not about answers to me; they are about questions.”

“Religion is a system of wishful illusions together with a disavowal of reality, such as we find nowhere else but in a state of blissful hallucinatory confusion. Religion's eleventh commandment is "Thou shalt not question."”

“The important question is, How many hands have I shaked?”

“Answers to Frequently Asked Questions:
Yes.
Yes.
No.
One time in high school.
Three times in my twenties.
Rocks no salt.
Yes.
Four.
Never. And how dare you!
I will take no further questions.”

“The more you ask certain questions, the more dangerous they become.”

“Questions outlive the answers.”

“This is the essence of intuitive heuristics: when faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution.”

“What was it to love someone, what was love exactly, and why did it end or not end? Those were the real questions, and who could answer them?”

“I often think of death.
True.
Suicide is a reasonable option.
True.
My sins are unpardonable.
I stare at the question.
My sins are unpardonable.
I stare at the question.
My sins are unpardonable.
I leave it blank.”

“But there is greater comfort in the substance of silence than in the answer to a question.”

“We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes.”

“Pretend I asked, now answer the question…”

“There are no forbidden questions in science, no matters too sensitive or delicate to be probed, no sacred truths.”

“Once you've decided that something's absolutely true, you've closed your mind on it, and a closed mind doesn't go anywhere. Question everything. That's what education's all about.”

“You didn't answer my question. Are you all right?"

I didn't do anything"

Yeah. You did." He looked at me. "You did a lot"

-Chloe & Derek-”

“Sometimes questions can be more cruel than insults”

“She studied my face for a long minute. "Are you going to help my mom?" It was a simple question. But how do you tell a child that things just aren't that simple, that some questions don't have simple answers--or any answer at all?”

“Random Girl after a hookup: "Do you love me"
Tucker: "I don't understand the question.”

“The question is… How did a girl like Annabelle manage to talk a man like you into joining our silly little family party?”

Annabelle smiled sweetly. “I promised he could tie me up afterward and spank me.”

“Calvin is hammering nails into coffee table.
Mom: CALVIN WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THE COFFEE TABLE?!?
Calvin: Is this some sort of trick question, or what?”

“Christianity is a life, not a doctrine… I'm not saying never doubt or question. The Lord gave you a mind so that you would make honest use of it. I'm saying you must be sure that the doubts and questions are your own.”

“I do not have much patience with a thing of beauty that must be explained to be understood. If it does need additional interpretation by someone other than the creator, then I question whether it has fulfilled its purpose.”

“But crazy people never think they're crazy. You're sane just by the virtue of the question.”

“I've learned over the years that sometimes if you ask the same question more than once you get different responses.”

“Sometimes a question can hurt more than an answer.”

“One has no talent. I have no talent. It's just a question of working, of being willing to put in the time.”

“She asks why I like her.
Might as well ask
Why I breathe.
Maybe tomorrow I won't
Breathe or like her
Anymore.
Maybe tomorrow the tides
Will stop.
Maybe tomorrow will bring
No more rainbows.
Maybe tomorrow
She will stop
Asking useless questions.”

“To be or not to be?' That is not the question. What is the question? The question is not one of being, but of becoming. 'To become more or not to become more' This is the question faced by each intelligence in our universe.”

“I was adrift in a sea of questions and if answers were lifeboats, I was in imminent danger of drowning.”

“Never, never underestimate the power of desire. If you want to live badly enough, you can live. The great question, at least for me, was: How do I decide I want to live?”

“Who are you?" because even now, she couldn't let her questions go. "What are you?"
That face that wasn't a face smiled. It was the most terrible thing she'd ever see, ever. "Magnus" he said. "I'm the end.”

“We must assume every event has significance and contains a message that pertains to our questions… this especially applies to what we used to call bad things… the challenge is to find the silver lining in every event, no matter how negative.”

“Who do you love?
It's a question anyone should be able to answer. A question that defines a life, creates a future, guides most minutes of one's days. Simple, elegant encompassing.
Who do you love?”

“It is important to have questionable friends you can trust unconditionally.”

“Dear Daddy-Long-Legs,

You never answered my question and it was very important.

ARE YOU BALD?”

“At first, being with Sebastian was like being in the middle of the best dream I'd ever had - but now it mostly feels exhausting. I'm up one minute and down the next; questioning what I say and do. Even questioning my sanity.”

“Can I ask you a question?" "I'd be disappointed if you didn't." "How many of those suits do you have? Do you like, send them to the laundry, or throw them out and put on a new one when it gets all gamey?" - Bobby talking to Saint Dane, RR”

“The point is not for women simply to take power out of men’s hands, since that wouldn’t change anything about the world. It’s a question precisely of destroying that notion of power.”

“Macy: “In Truth,” I said, “there are no rules other than you have to tell the truth.”
Wes: “How do you win?” he asked
Macy: “That,” I said, “is such a boy question.”

“Of course I can climb it. I'm practically a progidy in PE," I pointed out. "The question is, can you, Mr Smoker?”

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?”

“Do not waste your time on Social Questions. What is the matter with the poor is Poverty what is the matter with the rich is Uselessness.”

“The minute we begin to think we have all the answers, we forget the questions.”

“Believe what you like, but don't believeyou read without questioning it.”

“There are some questions that shouldn't be asked until a person is mature enough to appreciate the answers.”

“A question I've thought about a great deal is why it is so much easier to write about the things we dislike/hate/acknowledge to be flawed than the things we love.”

“One does no question miracles, or complain that they are no constructed perfectly to one's liking.”

“Alec said you do that," said Jace. "Deflect questions about yourself with jokes.”

“The greatest question of our time is not communism vs. individualism, not Europe vs. America, not even the East vs. the West; it is whether men can bear to live without God.”