Uncertainty Quotes

“the next obvious question that lay lurking like a black storm cloud over my head: If I wasn’t to live with the Jeongs, then where would I go? And with whom?”
― Wayne Edwards, A Stone's Throw: A heartwarming story of a city girl and her rancher grandfather turning adversity into love and community

“These are hard and uncertain times we’re living in,” he said. “You never know what will still be here tomorrow. That’s why we must take joy every day in what we do have, so it’s something we can carry in our memories when things change.”
― Jaye L. Knight, Samara's Peril

“There's a kind of saying that you don't understand its meaning, 'I don't believe it. It's too crazy. I'm not going to accept it.'… You'll have to accept it. It's the way nature works. If you want to know how nature works, we looked at it, carefully. Looking at it, that's the way it looks. You don't like it? Go somewhere else, to another universe where the rules are simpler, philosophically more pleasing, more psychologically easy. I can't help it, okay? If I'm going to tell you honestly what the world looks like to the human beings who have struggled as hard as they can to understand it, I can only tell you what it looks like.”
― Richard Feynman

“With uncertainty, there is never a dull moment.”
― Haresh Sippy

“Uncertainty is one of government recipes.”
― Toba Beta, Betelgeuse Incident: Insiden Bait Al-Jauza

“Not everyone’s life is like a house that belongs to him and that he can go on decorating ever more richly with the furniture of his memory. Some people live in hotels, in many hotels. The years close behind them like hotel doors— and the only thing that remains is a little courage and no regrets.”
― Erich Maria Remarque

“...but the loss of a memory, like the omission of a phrase during reading, rather than making for uncertainty, can lead to a premature certainty.”
― Marcel Proust, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower

“If our future generations were much wilier than us,
then it might be them who have led us all this time,
to make decisions which fit to their pre-existence,
left us live in the world of uncertainty or by faith.”
― Toba Beta, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut

“...в самой глубине души у Корнелия жило опасливое понимание, что эта бодрость, этот счастливый настрой могут оказаться недолгими. И опять придёт уныние, неуверенность. Страх...”
― Vladislav Krapivin, Выстрел с монитора. Гуси-гуси, га-га-га...

“Неизвестность - она давит, как беда.”
― Vladislav Krapivin, Застава на Якорном поле. Крик петуха.

“I'm afraid I don't know who I am either! But I've turned my head off so long, I don't need to know.”
― Sarah Sparrow, A Guide for Murdered Children

“Overthinking:
I love the fact that we now live in the „someday"-
And that it feels so much easier than the past ever prepared us for.”
― Laura Chouette, Where the Quiet Blooms

“None of this made sense, but we were alive, for now at least, and we had each other, and that was something.”
― Matt Dinniman, The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook

“You can’t eliminate uncertainty, but you can design your response to it.”
― Shamail Aijaz, The Art of Risk: How Smart Businesses Prevent Chaos Before It Happens

“There is a flower in my garden,
It is said that it needs sunlight all the time
and it needs to be watered constantly.
I feel sorry for both the flower and myself,
I do not know what will happen after a while.”
― Mehmet Çil, a Song a Poem

“The management has exploited our wish for infallible systems: here is the water, there is the land, no one can make a mistake. Up to this line there is no danger; on the other side of the line waits certain death. Therefore the alarm wails and the guests flee from their rooms with their clothes fluttering around them. The illusion of complete safety so long as the margin is not reached bears the reverse implication of complete panic once the margin is exceeded. It is easier to choose these sharp demarcation lines than uncertainty in our individual situation; the adjustment has been so small that in itself it is not disastrous, but could contribute to disaster.”
― Sven Holm, Termush

“I do not mean to imply by this that a man can determine just what his world or his life will be like. A man, after all, is only a man. He stands somewhere between absolute freedom on the one hand, and total helplessness on the other. All of his important decisions must be made on the basis of insufficient data. It is enough if a man accepts his freedom, takes his best shot, does what he can, faces the consequences of his acts, and makes no excuses. It may not be fair that a man gets to have total responsibility for his own life without total control over it, but it seems to me that for good or for bad, that's just the way it is.”
― Sheldon B. Kopp, If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him! The Pilgrimage of Psychotherapy Patients

“The world is essentially arbitrary in its movements, predictable only in the least important ways. Yet in each moment of limited understanding and insufficient data, a man must make decisions just as though he knew what he was doing.”
― Sheldon B. Kopp, If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him! The Pilgrimage of Psychotherapy Patients

“Ironically, as a man grows and gains new freedom, he becomes aware that at each point at which he must risk himself anew, aided by his new-found freedom, new experiences for which he is unprepared then present themselves.”
― Sheldon B. Kopp, If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him! The Pilgrimage of Psychotherapy Patients

“And I'm sure I'm a jerk for saying this, but the fact that you've never been with another man is so hot."
Alma rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you're a jerk for saying that. I should go fuck someone else just to prove a point. I'm not a fan of misogyny."
"I know it's gross. I can't help it. Some weird primal Mexican machismo thing that I can't help feeling. At least I'm aware that it's not cool."
Alma's anger was still present, but the sincerity in Jaime's eyes was undeniable. She felt torn between wanting to protect herself and wanting to give him a chance to make amends.”
― Alana Albertson, My Fair Señor

“These things are real and not real. They exist and they do not exist. I remake them in my mind with every new thought, every remembered detail, and each time they are slightly different. Sometimes they are camouflage or disguises. Sometimes they are something more truthful.”
― Jeff Vandermeer, Annihilation

“There are unpredictable aspects of reality, and we can shape their outcomes at the intersection of control and chance by making thoughtful decisions and seizing opportunities.”
― F.C. Quiles

“I mean you no harm, you know. I owe you much and more.” “You do?” Some part of him was screaming, This is a trap, he is playing with you, the son is just the shadow of the father. Lord Ramsay played with his hopes all the time. “What … what do you owe me, m’lord?” “The north. The Starks were done and doomed the night that you took Winterfell.” He waved a pale hand, dismissive. “All this is only squabbling over spoils.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

“Certainty was my bread and butter. I sought it until I felt I could tackle each issue with assurance. Everything needed to remain black and white to maintain certainty and its power. Yet the gray areas had an un-mistakeable pull on me and I was no longer resisting the draw. Gray would become the wise guru on my path, helping me merge the split mind I inherited into one integrated human.”
― Lauren Smallcomb, Golden Child: My Descent to Scapegoat and Rise to Freedom

“HAIKU
The uncertainty of life:
We, like the Birds
and the Plants
-----------
L'incertezza delle vita:
Noi, come gli Uccelli
e le Piante
-----------
The Ungewissenheit des Lebens;
Wir, wie die Vögel
und die Pflanzen”
― Rossana Condoleo

“Affairs are by definition, precarious, elusive, and ambiguous. The indeterminacy, the uncertainty, the not knowing when I'll see you again–feelings we would never tolerate in our primary relationship–become kindling for anticipation in a hidden romance.”
― Esther Perel, The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity

“An endless corridor offers no promise that a door exists.”
― J. W. Sands

“You don’t have to have your whole life figured out at seventeen.”
― Elexa, The Last Kiss

“Most people are guessing. Some are just louder about it.”
― Elexa, The Last Kiss

“[The Paradox of Earthquakes]

How fate mocks us,
when all that we build,
from mighty infrastructure
to homes anchored in stone,
is transformed into a curse
that collapses upon our heads
with a single movement
of the hips
of our great mother,
Nature.
Here lies the clash
between human reason
and the wisdom of nature.
And I wonder:
when will we understand
that the permanence
and stability we chase so relentlessly
are no different
from building a house
in the very heart
of an earthquake?

14 February 2023”
― Louis Yako, سرطان في كل مكان [Cancer Everywhere]