Christianity has done its utmost to close the circle and declared even doubt to be sin. One is supposed to be cast into belief without reason, by a miracle, and from then on to swim in it as in the brightest and least ambiguous of elements: even a glance towards land, even the thought that one perhaps exists for something else as well as swimming, even the slightest impulse of our amphibious nature- is sin! And notice that all this means that the foundation of belief and all reflection on its origin is likewise excluded as sinful. What is wanted are blindness and intoxication and an eternal song over the waves in which reason has drowned.
Friedrich Nietzsche – Doubt, Sin, Christianity
In the midst of all the doubts which we have discussed for 4000 years in 4000 ways, the safest course is to do nothing against one’s conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.
Voltaire – Doubt, Life
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
