“It means that nothing is certain but uncertainty. If I bind the future I bind my will. If I bind my will I strangle creation.”

— George Bernard Shaw

The Serpent, in Pt. I, Act I
1920s, Back to Methuselah (1921)
Context: I make no vows. I take my chance. … It means that I fear certainty as you fear uncertainty. It means that nothing is certain but uncertainty. If I bind the future I bind my will. If I bind my will I strangle creation.

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George Bernard Shaw 413

Irish playwright 1856–1950

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“I make no vows. I take my chance. ... It means that I fear certainty as you fear uncertainty. It means that nothing is certain but uncertainty. If I bind the future I bind my will. If I bind my will I strangle creation.”

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“You can bind my body, tie my hands, govern my actions: you are the strongest, and society adds to your power; but with my will, sir, you can do nothing.”

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Source: Manhood of Humanity (1921), p. 136. Chapter: Capitalistic Era.
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“Can't see nothin' in front of me;
Can't see nothin' coming up behind.
I make my way through this darkness;
I can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me.
Lost track of how far I've gone,
How far I've gone, how high I've climbed.
On my back's a sixty pound stone,
On my shoulder a half mile line.”

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Source: Sanitary Economy (1850), p. 29-30
Context: The rise of each generation gives new ties towards the future, which insensibly dissolves those which bind us to the past; and the natural old age of the human race seems to have adjusted itself to that period beyond which the human being would feel isolated and desolate in the midst of the new objects of attachment which the progress of time brings into existence.

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Gerhard Richter (1932) German visual artist, born 1932

Notes, 1964-65; as cited on collected quotes on the website of Gerhard Richter: 'on Art' https://www.gerhard-richter.com/en/quotes/art-1
1960's

“It means that nothing is certain but uncertainty. If I bind the future I bind my will. If I bind my will I strangle creation.”

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George Bernard Shaw 413

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