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
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 Clergyman, Author
The will to believe is perhaps the most powerful, but certainly the most dangerous human attribute.
—Dero A. Saunders (1914–2002) American Business Editor
Beliefs are dangerous. Beliefs allow the mind to stop functioning. A non-functioning mind is clinically dead. Believe in nothing … .
—Unknown
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
That which you vividly imagine, sincerely believe, ardently desire and enthusiastically act upon will inevitably come to pass.
—William R. Lucas (1922–2025) American Engineer, Marshall Space Flight Center Director
It’s a wonderful feeling when you discover some evidence to support your beliefs.
—Anonymous
Believe that you have it, and you have it.
—Latin Proverb
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
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
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
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
Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.
—Dinah Craik (1826–87) British Novelist, Essayist, Poet
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 Author
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
Dogma does not mean the absence of thought, but the end of thought.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
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
The believing we do something when we do nothing is the first illusion of tobacco.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
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 Humorist, Journalist, Creator of “Mr. Dooley”
Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
—Alexander Hamilton (c.1757–1804) American Federalist Politician, Statesman
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
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
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
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 Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
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
As long as our civilization is essentially one of property, of fences, of exclusiveness, it will be mocked by delusions. Our riches will leave us sick; there will be bitterness in our laughter; and our wine will burn our mouth. Only that good profits, which we can taste with all doors open, and which serves all men.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
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
Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
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
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
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