Doubt is not a pleasant condition. But certainty is an absurd one.

Le doute n'est pas un etat bien agreable, mais l'assurance est un etat ridicule.

Voltaire

More information about this quote

Topic

Doubt vs. certainty Doubt and skepticism Certainty

Author

Voltaire

Medium

Letter

Language

French

Time

1770 1770s 18th century

Occupation

Philosopher Writer

From

France Europe

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Voltaire. Letter to Frederick William. 28 Nov. 1770.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Voltaire about doubt vs. certainty: “Doubt is not a pleasant condition. But certainty is an absurd one.”
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A quote by Voltaire about doubt vs. certainty: “Doubt is not a pleasant condition. But certainty is an absurd one.”
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A quote by Voltaire about doubt vs. certainty: “Doubt is not a pleasant condition. But certainty is an absurd one.”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Voltaire

I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?

Voltaire

Candide

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Read Candide at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Love of life

Author

Voltaire
Source
Candide
Medium
Novel
Genre
Satire
Language
French
Time
1759 1750s 18th century
Era
Age of Enlightenment
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Voltaire. Candide, ou l'Optimisme [Candide: or, All for the Best]. Geneva: Gabriel Cramer, 1759, ch. 12.

Current Citation

Voltaire. Candide, edited by Nicholas Cronk. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, ch. 12.

Another quote from the 1770s

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

Amazing Grace

Read the lyrics to this hymn at hymnary.org
More information about this quote
Topic
Salvation Grace

Author

John Newton
Source
Amazing Grace
Medium
Hymn Song
Language
English
Time
1779 1770s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Newton, John. 'Faith's Review and Expectation." Olney Hymns. London: W. Oliver, 1779.

Another quote originally in French

God is stupidity and cowardice; God is hypocrisy and falsehood. God is tyranny and poverty; God is evil. For as long as men bow before altars, mankind will remain damned, the slaves of kings and priests.

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

The System of Economic Contradictions

Read The System of Economic Contradictions at theanarchistlibrary.org
More information about this quote
Topic
Nature of God God

Author

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Source
The System of Economic Contradictions
Genre
Philosophical literature Political literature
Language
French
Time
1846 1840s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph. Systeme des contradictions economiques ou Philosophie de la misere [The System of Economic Contractictions, or Philosophy of Misery]. Paris: Chez Guilla umin et Cie, 1846, ch. 8.