Alain-René Lesage Quotes

Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance.

Doubt is the offspring of knowledge: the savage never doubts at all.

I respect faith, but doubt is what gives you an education.

Only the fools are certain and assured.

Doubt is the vestibule through which all must pass before they can enter into the temple of wisdom.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.

The utmost extent of man's knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing.

Doubt grows with knowledge.

If all you have is faith, then you never actually know anything.

I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure - that is all that agnosticism means.

To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.

Belief and knowledge are considered to be two different things. But they are not.

Who knows most, doubts most.

Faith is a poison that paralyzes the mind. In all the days of your life, seek knowledge!

The opposite of faith is not doubt, it’s certainty.

All that belongs to human understanding, in this deep ignorance and obscurity, is to be sceptical, or at least cautious, and not to admit of any hypothesis whatever, much less of any which is supported by no appearance of probability.

Intellectual modesty is humility as to what I know; intellectual humility is modesty as to what I do not know

Belief is in ignorance. If you know, you know. And it is good that if you don’t know, know that you don’t know — the belief can deceive you. The belief can create an atmosphere in your mind, where, without knowing, you start thinking that you know. Belief is not trust, and the more strongly you say that you believe totally, the more you are afraid of the doubt within you.

It would be the height of absurdity to label ignorance tempered by humility "faith"! (Institutio III.2.3)

Belief is tricky because left to its own devices, it can court a kind of surety, an unquestioning allegiance that fears doubt and destroys difference.

The difficulty in philosophy is to say no more than we know.

What you know, you know, what you don't know, you don't know. This is true wisdom.

We must not let go manifest truths because we cannot answer all questions about them.

To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.

He who knows best knows how little he knows.