“Uncertainty is the equivalent of a predator waiting in the shadows and pounces upon us when least expected. Frequently, we are aware of pending uncertainty, such as, waiting for the results; of a test, a pending loan application, a promotion or potential employment, and the fact uncertainty will be present for our entire life.”

1. Introduction. p. 1.
Understanding Uncertainty (2006)

2. Stylistic Questions. p. 19.
Understanding Uncertainty (2006)

The Aquarian Conspiracy (1980), Chapter Four, People Changing

Source: The Drunkard's Walk, Chapter 7, Measurement And The Law Of Errors, p. 129

Source: Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory

Economics focus: (Nearly) nothing to fear but fear itself (2009) https://www.economist.com/node/13021961/all-comments?page=1,

Essays in Idleness (1967 Columbia University Press, Trns: Donald Keene)
Context: If man were never to fade away like the dews of Adashino never to vanish like the smoke over Toribeyama, but lingered on forever in the world, how things would lose their power to move us! The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty. Consider living creatures- none lives so long a man. The May fly waits not for the evening, the summer cicada knows neither spring nor autumn. What a wonderfully unhurried feeling it is to live even even a single year in perfect serenity.

Reported as attributed to Burns but unverified in Suzy Platt (ed.), Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations Requested from the Congressional Research Service (Washington, DC : Library of Congress 1989) http://www.bartleby.com/73/172.html
Disputed
Source: Collected Poems of Robert Burns