Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
—Alexander Hamilton (c.1757–1804) American Federalist Politician, Statesman
There was another silence, while Marjorie considered whether or not convincing her mother was worth the trouble. People over forty can seldom be permanently convinced of anything. At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
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
Assertion is not argument; to contradict the statement of an opponent is not proof that you are correct.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Some like to understand what they believe in. Others like to believe in what they understand.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909–1966) Polish Aphorist, Poet
Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Much bending breaks the bow; much unbending the mind.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Disbelief in futurity loosens in a great measure the ties of morality, and may be for that reason pernicious to the peace of civil society.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
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
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
The believing we do something when we do nothing is the first illusion of tobacco.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
When you affirm big, believe big, and pray big, big things happen.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
Man is so inconsistent a creature that it is impossible to reason from his beliefs to his conduct, or from one part of his belief to another.
—Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–59) English Historian, Essayist, Philanthropist
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
A big league baseball manager declares that he would have the public feel extremely doubtful early in the season regarding the chances of his team to win the championship. Cocksureness, he implies, could not fail to have a bad effect upon his players, whereas public skepticism acted upon them as a challenge. There is wisdom in this for business concerns. The man who is smugly confident that he has arrived is ripe for the return trip. A measure of self-confidence is an asset when you are battling your way to the top. But cocksureness is not an asset but a liability. It tends to dull the edge of effort. Also, it breeds arrogance that is distasteful.
—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
With most people, unbelief in one thing is founded upon blind belief in another.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
Emphatic and reiterated assertion, especially during childhood, produces in most people a belief so firm as to have a hold even over the unconscious.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Remember that what you believe will depend very much upon what you are.
—Noah Porter (1811–92) American Clergyman, Academic
As soon as we cease to pry about at random, we shall come to rely upon accredited bodies of authoritative dogma; and as soon as we come to rely upon accredited bodies of authoritative dogma, not only are the days of our liberty over, but we have lost the password that has hitherto opened to us the gates of success as well.
—Learned Hand (1872–1961) American Judge, Judicial Philosopher
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
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
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
Believe things, rather than man.
—Benjamin Whichcote (1609–83) British Anglican Priest, Theologian, Philosopher
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
Believe that you have it, and you have it.
—Latin Proverb
Dogma does not mean the absence of thought, but the end of thought.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Credulity is the man’s weakness, but the child’s strength.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
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
Our affections and beliefs are wiser than we; the best that is in us is better than we can understand; for it is grounded beyond experience, and guides us, blindfold but safe, from one age on to another.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
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
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
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
In religion and politics, people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
I wish I was as sure of anything as he is of everything.
—Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–59) English Historian, Essayist, Philanthropist
An unaspiring person believes according to what he achieves. An aspiring person achieves according to what he believes.
—Sri Chinmoy (1931–2007) Indian Yoga Teacher
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
Beliefs are dangerous. Beliefs allow the mind to stop functioning. A non-functioning mind is clinically dead. Believe in nothing … .
—Unknown
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
Too few have the courage of my convictions.
—Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899–1977) American Educator
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
All business proceeds on beliefs, or judgments of probabilities, and not on certainties.
—Charles William Eliot (1834–1926) American Educationalist
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
The will to believe is perhaps the most powerful, but certainly the most dangerous human attribute.
—Dero A. Saunders (1914–2002) American Journalist, Scholar
What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.
—Dinah Craik (1826–87) British Novelist, Essayist, Poet
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
Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
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
Believe in yourself, your neighbors, your work, your ultimate attainment of more complete happiness. It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher