“She no longer believes very strongly in belief… Belief may be no more, in the end, than a source of energy, like a battery which one clips into an idea to make it run. As happens when one writes: believing whatever has to be believed in order to get the job done.”

— J.M. Coetzee , book Elizabeth Costello

Elizabeth Costello (2003)

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

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J.M. Coetzee 61

South African writer 1940

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“The nonbelievers need the believers. They are desperate to have someone believe." "As belief shrinks from the world, people find it more necessary than ever that someone believe… Those who have abandoned belief must still believe in us. They are sure that they are right not to believe but they know belief must not fade completely. Hell is when no one believes.”

Don DeLillo book White Noise

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“The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.”

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American architect (1867-1959)

As quoted in My Favorite Quotations (1990) by Norman Vincent Peale

“To believe is to be happy; to doubt is to be wretched. To believe is to be strong. Doubt cramps energy. Belief is power. Only so far as a man believes strongly, mightily, can he act cheerfully, or do any thing that is worth the doing.”

Frederick William Robertson (1816–1853) British writer and theologian

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 23.

“Belief, he says. Belief shifts. People start out believing in the god and end up believing in the structure.”

Terry Pratchett book Small Gods

Source: Small Gods

“Not believing in something is not in itself a belief or a philosophy: it is the 'ism' at the end that tends to cause the trouble. Both atheists and believers can be as arrogant and witless as each other in frustrated debate, and people may choose strong and unapologetic words to raise awareness of the agenda. But despite the name-calling, it is still a fair point that to not believe in God is no more a 'belief in itself' than to not believe in the Loch Ness Monster, Poseidon or anything else one might personally consider far-fetched. Beyond that, there is only how you choose to express yourself.”

Derren Brown (1971) British illusionist

Books, Tricks of the Mind (2006)

“Believing in capitalism does not mean believing in growth, the economy, or efficiency. Desirable as these may be, these are only the results. Belief in capitalism is, fundamentally, belief in mankind.”

Johan Norberg book In Defense of Global Capitalism

In Defense of Global Capitalism
Context: Basically, what I believe in is neither capitalism nor globalization... I believe in man's capacity for achieving great things and in the combined force resulting from encounters and exchanges. I plead for greater liberty and a more open world... because it provides a setting which liberates individuals and their creativity as no other system can. It spurs the dynamism which has led to human, economic, scientific, and technical advances, and which will continue to do so. Believing in capitalism does not mean believing in growth, the economy, or efficiency. Desirable as these may be, these are only the results. Belief in capitalism is, fundamentally, belief in mankind.

“At college, and perhaps for a year afterwards, they had believed in literature, had believed in Beauty and in personal expression as an absolute end. When they lost this belief, they lost everything.”

Nathanael West (1903–1940) American writer

Source: Miss Lonelyhearts and A Cool Million

“In the same breath, one might add that the atheist is surely as religious as the Christian, in that he has adopted a set of beliefs to which he chooses to rigorously adhere. While it’s temptingly clever to make that claim, it is a nonsensical statement; no more logical than to say that a Christian is a type of atheist. Having a set of beliefs about religion is not the same as being a religious True Believer.”

Derren Brown (1971) British illusionist

Books, Tricks of the Mind (2006)

“I always say: I believe in Judaism more than I believe in god. [Interviewer: What do you mean by that? ] Belief is maybe a very strong word. I’d say I relate to Judaism more.”

Abby Stein (1991) Trans activist, speaker, and educator

2015

“An early morning may look superficially gray, but it is not.... the dew is much more colorful than one would believe, often so strongly that the palette fails.”

Paul Gabriël (1828–1903) painter (1828-1903)

translation from the Dutch original: Fons Heijnsbroek
version in original Dutch / citaat van Paul Gabriël, in Nederlands: Een vroege morgen kan er oppervlakkig grijs uitzien, maar ze is het niet.. ..de dauw is veel gekleurder dan men wel zou geloven, dikwijls zo sterk dat het palet te kort schiet.
Quote of Paul Gabriël, in a letter to a befriended art-critic; as cited in 'Dauw heeft meer kleur dan men denkt', by Truus Ruiter https://www.volkskrant.nl/cultuur-media/dauw-heeft-meer-kleur-dan-men-denkt~b14d3e3c/; newspaper 'de Volkskrant', 27 July 1998
Gabriël avoided to use frequently grey in his work, because he loved natural colors
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“She no longer believes very strongly in belief… Belief may be no more, in the end, than a source of energy, like a battery which one clips into an idea to make it run. As happens when one writes: believing whatever has to be believed in order to get the job done.”

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