Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.
—Dinah Craik (1826–87) British Novelist, Essayist, Poet
A supremely religious man or woman is one who believes deeply and consistently in the veracity of his highest experiences. He has his hours in the cellar … but he believes in the truth of the hours he spends upstairs.
—Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American Baptist Minister
The man who is cocksure that he has arrived is ready for the return journey.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
It’s a wonderful feeling when you discover some evidence to support your beliefs.
—Anonymous
I have found that the greatest help in meeting any problem with decency and self-respect and whatever courage is demanded, is to know where you yourself stand. That is, to have in words what you believe and are acting from.
—William Faulkner (1897–1962) American Novelist
Devout believers are safeguarded in a high degree against the risk of certain neurotic illnesses; their acceptance of the universal neurosis spares them the task of constructing a personal one.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
Dogma does not mean the absence of thought, but the end of thought.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Everyone has his superstitions. One of mine has always been when I started to go anywhere, or to do anything, never to turn back or to stop until the thing intended was accomplished.
—Ulysses S. Grant (1822–85) American Civil War General, Head of State
The men who succeed best in public life are those who take the risk of standing by their own convictions.
—James A. Garfield (1831–81) American Head of State, Lawyer, Educator
Men are tattooed with their special beliefs like so many South Sea Islanders; but a real human heart with divine love in it beats with the same glow under all the patterns of all earth’s thousand tribes!
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
With most people, unbelief in one thing is founded upon blind belief in another.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
We cannot tell some people what it is believe, partly because they are too stupid to understand, partly because we are too proudly vague to explain.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
The believing we do something when we do nothing is the first illusion of tobacco.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
As one may bring himself to believe almost anything he is inclined to believe, it makes all the difference whether we begin or end with the inquiry, “What is truth?”
—Richard Whately (1787–1863) English Philosopher, Theologian
Assertion is not argument; to contradict the statement of an opponent is not proof that you are correct.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
A firm belief attracts facts. They come out iv’ holes in th’ ground an’ cracks in th’ wall to support belief, but they run away fr’m doubt.
—Finley Peter Dunne (1867–1936) American Author, Writer, Humorist
Believe things, rather than man.
—Benjamin Whichcote (1609–83) British Anglican Priest, Theologian, Philosopher
The will to believe is perhaps the most powerful, but certainly the most dangerous human attribute.
—Dero A. Saunders (1914–2002) American Journalist, Scholar
The man who believes he can do it is probably right, and so is the man who believes he can’t.
—Laurence J. Peter (1919–90) Canadian-born American Educator, Author
These then are my last words to you. Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
He who is surety is never sure himself. Take advice, and never be security for more than you are quite willing to lose. Remember the word of the wise man: “He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it; and he that hateth suretyship is sure.”
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
Confronted with the impossibility of remaining faithful to one’s beliefs, and the equal impossibility of becoming free of them, one can be driven to the most inhuman excesses.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
—Alexander Hamilton (c.1757–1804) American Federalist Politician, Statesman
All the strength and force of man comes from his faith in things unseen. He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions. The man strongly possessed of an idea is the master of all who are uncertain and wavering. Clear, deep, living convictions rule the world.
—James Freeman Clarke (1810–88) American Unitarian Clergyman, Abolitionist, Author
It is desire that engenders belief; if we fail as a rule to take this into account, it is because most of the desires that create beliefs end only with out own life.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
Remember that what you believe will depend very much upon what you are.
—Noah Porter (1811–92) American Clergyman, Academic
No more duty can be urged upon those who are entering the great theater of life than simple loyalty to their best convictions.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–80) American Preacher, Poet