Derek Sivers Quotes

The minute one utters a certainty, the opposite comes to mind.

When we don't have information, we go to the simplest outlook, to black and white. But then we have to lie to ourselves. Black is never as black as you're painting it and white is never as white.

I think the biggest mistake I made was this wretched ability to see both sides of an argument.

I wouldn't say Jamie is an evil genius. I'm not sure he's evil and I'm not sure he's a genius.

The novelist teaches the reader to comprehend the world as a question. There is wisdom and tolerance in that attitude. In a world built on sacrosanct certainties the novel is dead.

Everything in life is gray, you know.

Being ambivalent doesn't mean that you're a relevatist, that anything goes; it just means that you show the complexity of life. Life is always complex.

I'm not really sure if I have anything that inspires me.

In all intellectual debates, both sides tend to be correct in what they affirm, and wrong in what they deny.

I think the phrase that resonates from 'Just One Year' is something I sort of live by: 'The truth and its opposite are flip sides of the same coin.'

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.

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.

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.

Even a sheet of paper has two sides.

The reverse side also has a reverse side.

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

Success is something good, and something bad. I don't know if it's good to always go after success.

I want to make people think about certain things or have them ask the question of 'why.' I just want to always keep the people wondering.

I am not a person of opinions because I feel the counter arguments too strongly.

I'm not ideological. I think sometimes when people are ideological, the world's a lot easier. Because it falls into either right or wrong, or black or white, or whatever. To me, I'm still trying to figure out a lot of things.

In the course of your education you have always been taught to look for the right answer - but you must also know that in life, sometimes the right answer is that there isn't one.

Do not feel certain of anything.

Nothing was or is farther from my intentions, than to enlist myself as the champion of a fixed opinion, where I have only expressed doubt.

Most people like to believe something is or is not true. Great scientists tolerate ambiguity very well. They believe the theory enough to go ahead; they doubt it enough to notice the errors and faults so they can step forward and create the new replacement theory. If you believe too much you'll never notice the flaws; if you doubt too much you won't get started. It requires a lovely balance.