BELIEF

Related Subjects: Atheism, Confidence, Credulity, Creeds, Doctrine, Doubt, Faith, Martyrdom, Opinion, Religion, Superstition, Trust

1. A belief is not true because it is useful.—AMIEL, Journal

2. Strong beliefs win strong men, and then make them stronger.—WALTER BAGEHOT, Physics and Politics
   

3. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.—Bible, John 20:29
   

4. It is always easier to believe than to deny. Our minds are naturally affirmative.—JOHN BURROUGHS, The Light of Day
   

5. Men freely believe that which they desire.—JULIUS CAESAR, Commentaries
   

6. No iron chain, or outward force of any kind, could ever compel the soul of man to believe or to disbelieve.—CARLYLE, Heroes & Hero-Worship
   

7. He was the Word, that spake it:
   He took the bread and brake it;
   And what that Word did make it,
   I do believe and take it.—JOHN DONNE, Divine Poems
   

8. A man must not swallow more beliefs than he can digest.—HAVELOCK ELLIS,
   The Dance of Life
   

9. We are born believing. A man bears beliefs, as a tree bears apples.—EMERSON, Conduct of Life
   

10. The mob that would die for a belief seldom hesitates to inflict death upon any opposing heretical group.—ELLEN GLASGOW, I Believe
    

11. When once a man is determined to believe, the very absurdity of the doctrine does but confirm him in his faith.—JUNIUS
    

12. Here I stand; I can do no otherwise. God help me. Amen!—MARTIN LUTHER
    

13. Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know.—MONTAIGNE, Essays
    

14. Better believe it than go where it was done to prove it.—Proverb
    

15. He that believes all, misseth; he that believes nothing, hits not.—Proverb
    

16. He does not believe that does not live according to his belief.—Proverb
    

17. For, dear me, why abandon a belief
    Merely because it ceases to be true?
    Cling to it long enough, and not a doubt
    It will turn true again, for so it goes.—E. A. ROBINSON, The Black Cottage
    

18. Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day.—BERTRAND RUSSELL, Sceptical Essays
    

19. Few would hold nowadays the extreme doctrine of Tertullian­Credo quia impossibile, "I believe for the very reason that it is impossible"; but many still say, "I believe although it is impossible."—SIR HERBERT SAMUEL
    

20. Mirabeau said of Robespierre, then hardly known: "That man will go far; he believes everything he says."—JOHN S. SMITH, Mirabeau
    

21. He in his heart
    Felt that misgiving which precedes belief
    In what was disbelieved.—SOUTHEY, Joan Of Arc

22. You believe that easily which you hope for earnestly.—TERENCE
    

23. I believe because it is impossible.—TERTULLIAN, De Came Christi
    

24. While men believe in the infinite, some ponds will be thought to be bottomless.—THOREAU, Walden
    

25. Conviction is the Conscience of the Mind.—MRS. HUMPHRY WARD,Robert Elsmere