Terry Pratchett Quotes

In philosophy you're never 100% sure. You're always undermining what you think you know. That's always been my philosophy and my intellectual ethos.

I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.

Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality.

Only the fools are certain and assured.

Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a question.

Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.

Never stop paying attention to things. Never make your mind up finally. Do not hold beliefs.

The first step towards philosophy is incredulity.

Because a truly skeptical position would be a very uncertain one.

What is important is that one utilizes one's intellect and not to be 100 percent sure about one's convictions. One should always leave room for doubt.

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.

I was raised with the notion that it was OK to ask questions, and it was OK to say, I'm not sure. I believe, but I'm not quite so certain about the resurrection.

My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not about God alone, but agnosticism about everything.

Doubt is the origin of wisdom.

The great benefit of philosophy, which is also its great weakness, is that all its steps are taken in the spirit of doubt.

Do not feel certain of anything.

Skepticism is provisional, even if it lasts a lifetime.

A mind that questions everything, unless strong enough to bear the weight of its ignorance, risks questioning itself and being engulfed in doubt.

I am a philosopher, not a scientist, and we philosophers are better at questions than answers.

I am too much of a sceptic to deny the possibility of anything...

Question everything. Your love, your religion, your passion. If you don't have questions, you'll never find answers.

Doubt is uncomfortable, certainty is ridiculous.

I say with my own authority that if you go on questioning without accepting anybody's answer, including mine, by and by you will find that the answer is not found but the question disappears.

On the one hand, philosophy is to keep us thinking about things that we may come to know, and on the other hand to keep us modestly aware of how much that seems like knowledge isn't knowledge

Skepticism may undermine beliefs, but never belief.