Charles Fort Quotes

The only virtue on which I pride myself is my self-doubt; when a writer loses her self-doubt, the time has come to lay aside her pen.

True belief is not about blind submission. It is about open-eyed acceptance, and acceptance requires persistent distance from the truth, and that distance is doubt. Doubt, in other words, can feed faith, rather than destroy it. And it forces us, even while believing, to recognize our fundamental duty with respect to God's truth: humility. We do not know. Which is why we believe.

There is something pagan in me that I cannot shake off. In short, I deny nothing, but doubt everything.

I'm very careful not to have ideas, because they're inaccurate.

I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.

The job is to ask questions-it always was-and to ask them as inexorably as I can. And to face the absence of precise answers with a certain humility.

It's not like I have all the answers.

I've reached the age of self-knowledge, so I don't know anything. People who claim that they know something are responsible for most of the fuss in the world.

Better to trust the man who is frequently in error than the one who is never in doubt.

The older I get, the less I know. By that I mean the less I am sure of. I view people with strong opinions on the big stuff with distrust. I don't think we should have certain certainties on faith and politics; I think we should be open-minded.

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

There is a cleansing humility about doubt.

I used to read about people who'd say, 'I dream my books, and then I write them down.' And I was like, 'Oh, please.'

When you try to create something different, there is always a mix of enthusiasm and skepticism, and I think this is fair.

Do not feel certain of anything.

It is popular to believe that in order to see clearly one must believe nothing. This may work well enough if you are observing cells under a microscope. It will not work if you are writing fiction. For the fiction writer, to believe nothing is to see nothing.

No one is infallible, and no one can claim a monopoly on truth or virtue. It would be contradictory for skepticism to seek to translate itself into a new faith.

I believe in not quite knowing. A writer needs to be doubtful, questioning. I write out of curiosity and bewilderment.

I believe in everything - a little bit.

I don't believe in anything and that makes me stronger than you think

You don’t have to be brave or a saint, a martyr, or even very smart to be an atheist. All you have to be able to say is “I don’t know”.

If you haven't doubted, you probably haven't thought very hard about what you believe.

Only the fools are certain and assured.