Uncertain Quotes

“Nothing, they say is more certain than death, and nothing more uncertain than the time of dying”
― Thomas Paine

“Regardless of your faith, you can never escape uncertainty.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“It is still cheating, even if nobody comes.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“I should have been bolder and kissed her at the end. I should have been more cautious. I had talked too much. I had said too little.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

“Edward breathed in the sweet fragrance of the dogwood blossoms. The delicious air came into his lungs and passed into his blood, coursing through his veins with euphoric energy that he’d never experienced. He felt as strong as a hundred men as they passed out of the dogwood coppice and began the ascent up the hill. Their pace was leisurely. Edward could have run all the way to the top if he wanted, but no urge to do so imposed itself on him. For the first time in his life, Edward felt peace, down to the marrow of his bones.”
― Steven Decker, One More Life to Live

“Walking on a path of uncertainties,
Shuffling on the probabilities of uncertainties,
Waging on the possibilities of uncertainties,
Waiting for the occurrences of uncertainties,
Solving the mysteries of wandering uncertainties,
We move, lead and live.”
― Pushpa Rana, Just the Way I Feel

“I don't know what I want.' The words come out a whisper, too true by half.

'Destruction and ruin,' she says with a clack of her tongue. 'I can practically smell it on you.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Bunnu was no amateur when it came to escape. And even in his drowsiest moments, he understood implicitly that to forget his circumstances, even for a short while, meant first to forget himself. Who he was and why he was—to strip it all bare and start from scratch, as it were. In his nearly 250 years of life and, now, as an old emaciated man completely estranged from his family and closest friends—albeit more by circumstance than by choice—he understood the importance of this process and revered it, for there were far greater things to be done and achieved in the dark, uncertain areas of existence than in those circumscribed—and thereby strained—by comprehensibility.”
― Ashim Shanker, Only the Deplorable

“In contrast to advice, our UN-VICE is not a suggestion of behavior or a mandate. Instead, our UN-VICE is a way to decipher changing circumstances imaginatively. All advice should be carefully considered, combined with an emphasis on developing and trusting our own capabilities.

In our increasingly UN-VICE world, the value of recommendations is rapidly decreasing. Systemic disruption has devalued ad-vice; instead, we offer our best UN-VICE. Inspired by Richard Feynman, we must explore unanswered questions, rather than adhering to unquestionable answers.

Zen Master Suzuki Roshi said “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” Our UN-VICE draws from the three stages of the Japanese martial arts concept shuhari. In the first stage, shu, the student masters the established fundamentals. In the second stage, ha, the learner practices and experiments with novel approaches, guided by their own unique perspectives. In the third stage, ri, they break loose from confining rulebooks to adapt freely to any situation. Shuhari is a journey, a continuous process of learning, experimenting, and letting go.”
― Roger Spitz, Disrupt With Impact: Achieve Business Success in an Unpredictable World

“Many organizations and militaries use VUCA as an acronym to describe the disruptive state of the world, given its Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity.

UN-VICE is an updated way of capturing the state and velocity of the world, with our acronym for UNknown, Volatile, Intersecting, Complex, and Exponential:

- UNknown: Recognizing that you can’t know anything perfectly, and that many of our decisions are based on assumptions. Increased uncertainty lowers the value of ad-vice and requires increased self-reliance.

- Volatile: Our world, and change itself, is evolving faster than ever before. Volatility is not inherently good or bad; it is simply impactful. In volatility we see shifting speed, texture, and magnitude of the changing environment.

- Intersecting: The broader our filters, the more we realize that what we observe overlaps with other things. Boundaries are disappearing, connecting new areas through combinations.

- Complex: These more-than-complicated systems have unreliable input-output relationships and cannot be summarized or modeled without losing their essence. Unpredictable situations with unknown unknowns.

- Exponential: A nonlinear type of change that increases in its growth rate. To an observer, this change may happen gradually, then suddenly. Rapid acceleration of seemingly-small shifts.”
― Roger Spitz, Disrupt With Impact: Achieve Business Success in an Unpredictable World

“There are three ways to fulfill your emotional energy needs - create your own, draw it from others or extract it from nature. What's your source of energy?”
― Sukant Ratnakar, Quantraz

“There’s a butterfly that has been hovering around the window. It doesn’t know where to go. I am that butterfly.”
― Bhuwan Thapaliya

“Silence stretched, filling the room, and then he said. 'Can I... can I just hold you?' he asked, and I'd never heard him sound so uncertain. 'There are things I should be doing, and I know we're not in public, and I know that what we shared doesn't change anything, but... can I... can we just pretend?'

My heart thumped heavily again, and I didn't know if it was the effect of the feeding or what we'd done afterward. Or if it was the softness of his request, the vulnerability of it, and the feeling that things had shifted even more between us. It could've been all those things that led me to say, 'You can.'

Casteel's exhale was ragged, but he didn't move. When I looked over my shoulder, his eyes were closed, his lips parted. I wondered if he was all right. 'Casteel?'

Think lashes swept up, revealing extraordinarily bright amber eyes. 'I... I didn't think you'd let me.'

Lying my head back down, I wet my lips. 'Should I have not?'

'Yes? No? I don't know.' Casteel moved then, slipping one arm under me and the other around me. He tugged me close, sealing my back to his chest. 'Not takebacks now, though.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire

“Given the inverse relationship between predictability and uncertainty, the cost of maintaining business as usual rises significantly.”
― Roger Spitz, Disrupt With Impact: Achieve Business Success in an Unpredictable World

“Do you know how terrifying it is- waiting for something uncertain?”
― Sajla Anees, Refuge

“The words of my mother came to me in a yellowed letter long lost. And speaking into my present from some distant place far in her past, I realized how much I need the past of my mother to help me navigate the uncertainty of my future.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Our emotional energy is a key source of abundant energy that will help us fight uncertain and abrupt challenges which the future will unfold with every passing moment.”
― Sukant Ratnakar, Quantraz

“The currency of the future is not gold, money, data, or crypto but our emotional energy. With it, each one of us can be a billionaire.”
― Sukant Ratnakar, Quantraz

“How much are we concerned about the conservation of our emotional energy which gets burnt out 100 times a day for petty reasons?”
― Sukant Ratnakar, Quantraz

“Every time our emotional energy is burnt, it gets converted into negative energy.”
― Sukant Ratnakar, Quantraz

“There is always opportunity cost in choosing one path over others. The betting elements of decisions—choice, probability, risk, etc.—are more obvious in some situations than others. Investments are clearly bets. A decision about a stock (buy, don’t buy, sell, hold, not to mention esoteric investment options) involves a choice about the best use of financial resources. Incomplete information and factors outside of our control make all our investment choices uncertain. We evaluate what we can, figure out what we think will maximize our investment money, and execute. Deciding not to invest or not to sell a stock, likewise, is a bet. These are the same decisions I make during a hand of poker: fold, check, call, bet, or raise.”
― Annie Duke, Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts

“The opposite of certainty in life is called freedom. If you want to be free, you must be willing to advance your life into the uncertain. What’s stopping you from moving forward? The need to be certain. Certainty is prison. Break free from certainty and you’ll be free.”
― Richie Norton, Anti-Time Management: Reclaim Your Time and Revolutionize Your Results with the Power of Time Tipping

“Life is uncertain, commemorate.”
― Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma, Rep By Rep

“He knew they didn’t have much time left, and that one day she’d walk out that door. Emma was never meant to be permanent, a warm breeze after the blizzard. Nothing more. Nick had prepared for that, told Skylar when she’d asked. He was ready for the return to working the rush alone and the lack of donuts to delight the customers. The business could survive without her. He just wasn’t so certain if his heart would.”
― Ellen Mint, Mistletoe Latte

“...if this was happily ever after, she was no longer sure she wanted it.”
― Stephanie Garber, A Curse for True Love

“I think we have an uncertain
future ahead of us.”
― Eve M. Harrell, Revealed Truth: A Journey From Fear to Faith

“I'm standing in a timeless place, between a past that has abandoned me and a future that scares me.”
― Alicia M. Rodriguez

“Nothing is certain. Nothing is promised. Just make sure to not give up on the edge of breakthrough”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, These Words Pour Like Rain

“The system wants to own your day until the day you die.

The opposite of certainty in life is called freedom.

If you want to be free, you must be willing to advance your life into the uncertain.”
― Richie Norton

“We do not always know what cake life would bake for us, but we are sure going to eat from its oven anyway.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, These Words Burn Like Fire