John Ruskin Quotes

I'd ask people to keep in mind the idea that if you really understand something, it's even more important for you to consider the possibility of your wrongness. Even if it takes someone dumber than you to point that out.

A man who has humility will have acquired in the last reaches of his beliefs the saving doubt of his own certainty.

We must be fully committed, but we must also be aware at the same time that we might possibly be wrong. People who claim to be absolutely convinced that their stand is the only right one...is a dead giveaway of unconscious doubt. Commitment is healthiest when it is not without doubt, but in spite of doubt.

Be very slow to believe that you are wiser than all others; it is a fatal but common error.

It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong.

I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.

I have written too much history to have faith in it; and if anyone thinks I'm wrong, I am inclined to agree with him.

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

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 often sit back and say, 'Be sure about what I believe.'

Sometimes I doubt, and sometimes I believe. I like not making myself believe when I am doubting and not making myself doubt when I am believing.

I think it's very important to keep in the back of your mind: 'What if I'm wrong?'

Of all the things we are wrong about, error might well top the list ... We are wrong about what it means to be wrong. Far from being a sign of intellectual inferiority, the capacity to err is crucial to human cognition. Far from being a moral flaw, it is inextricable from some of our most humane and honourable qualities: empathy, optimism, imagination, conviction, and courage. And far from being a mark of indifference or intolerance, wrongness is a vital part of how we learn and change. Thanks to error, we can revise our understanding of ourselves and amend our ideas about the world.

We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress, we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt.

I May Be Wrong but I Doubt It.

What we need is not a religion that is right where we are right, but one that is right where we are wrong.

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.

No man who worships education has got the best out of education... Without a gentle contempt for education no man's education is complete.

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

I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.

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.

Doubt your doubts before you doubt your beliefs.

The presence of any humility in my life is purely and completely an evidence of God's grace. From my perspective, I am not a humble man. I am a proud man pursuing humility by the grace of God.

If I am fool, it is, at least, a doubting one; and I envy no one the certainty of his self-approved wisdom.

The main battle is to make people realise that doubt is important. Doubt is good. The 'don't know' answer sometimes is the box you should tick, and it's about not being scared about that fact. Even the greatest minds don't know everything.