Belief Quotes
No sadder proof can be given by man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men.Thomas Carlyle, Heroes and Hero Worship, 1840
Unless man is committed to the belief that all mankind are his brothers, then he labors in vain and hypocritically in the vineyards of equality.Adam Clayton Jr. Powell
With most men, unbelief in one thing springs from blind belief in another.Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Once you touch the biographies of human beings, the notion that political beliefs are logically determined collapses like a pricked balloon.Irving Layton
The first glance at History convinces us that the actions of men proceed from their needs, their passions, their characters and talents and impresses us with the belief that such needs, passions and interests are the sole spring of actions.Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
They were so strong in their beliefs that there came a time when it hardly mattered what exactly those beliefs were they all fused into a single stubbornness.Louise Erdrich
With most people unbelief in one thing is founded upon blind belief in another.Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
The brute necessity of believing something so long as life lasts does not justify any belief in particular.George Santayana
Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.Bhagavad Gita
The tragic mistake of so many in the environmentalist movement is the belief that the rest of the world can afford to hold itself to our expensive green standards.Jonathan Berry
The mind can assert anything and pretend it has proved it. My beliefs I test on my body, on my intuitional consciousness, and when I get a response there, then I accept.D. H. Lawrence
Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.H. L. Mencken
Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.D. Elton Trueblood
He does not believe, that does not live according to his belief.Thomas Fulle
Believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts.F. F. Bosworth
Many of us spend our whole lives running from feeling with the mistaken belief that you cannot bear the pain. But you have already borne the pain. What you have not done is feel all you are beyond the pain.Bartholomew
Then anyone who leaves behind him a written manual, and likewise anyone who receives it, in the belief that such writing will be clear and certain, must be exceedingly simple - Minded...Plato, _Phaedrus_
Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.William James
It is, I think, an indisputable fact that Americans are, as Americans, the most self - Conscious people in the world, and the most addicted to the belief that the other nations are in a conspiracy to under - Value them.Henry James
Belief is the death of intelligence.Robert Anton Wilson
The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.Joesph Conrad, "Carnival of Wit".
Why abandon a belief merely because it ceases to be true Cling to it long enough, and it will turn true again, for so it goes. Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor.Robert Frost
The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas - A trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated.Ronald Reagan
Our minds thus grow in spots and like grease spots, the spots spread. But we let them spread as little as possible we keep unaltered as much of our old knowledge, as many of our old prejudices and beliefs, as we can.William James
The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.Richard Bach
America has believed that in differentiation, not in uniformity, lies the path of progress. It acted on this belief; it has advanced human happiness, and it has prospered.Louis D. Brandeis
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.Bertrand Russell
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie - - Deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.John F. Kennedy
Nothing so fortifies a friendship as a belief on the part of one friend that he is superior to the other.Honore de Balzac
Mankind is governed by minorities, seldom or never by majorities. It suppresses its feelings and its beliefs and follows the handful that makes the most noise. Sometimes the noisy handful is right, sometimes wrong, but no matter, the crowd follows it.Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger, Chapter IX
Contrary to general belief, I do not believe that friends are necessarily the people you like best, they are merely the people who got there first.Peter Ustinov, Dear Me (1977)
Shyness has a strange element of narcissism, a belief that how we look, how we perform, is truly important to other people.Andr Dubus
Democracy is, first and foremost, a spiritual force, it is built upon a spiritual basis - And on a belief in God and an observance of moral principle. And in the long run only the church can provide that basis. Our founder knew this truth - And we will neglect it at our peril.President Harry Truman, Public Papers of the President of the United States: Harry S. Truman - 1951 U. S. Gov. 1966 p1063
A belief is not true because it is useful.Henri Frdric Amiel
One person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 who have only interests.John Stuart Mill
It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes in The Copper Beeches
The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.Robert Lynd
