Life never presents us with anything which may not be looked upon as a fresh starting point, no less than as a termination.
Andre GideRead
Believe those who seek the truth, doubt those who find it; doubt all, but do not doubt yourself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Trust seekers of truth, be skeptical of those who claim to have found it, and always have confidence in yourself.
This quote encourages individuals to maintain a critical perspective towards those who assert they have definitive answers or truths. Instead, it emphasizes the importance of self-belief and personal introspection, suggesting that while it's healthy to question external claims of certainty, one should never lose faith in their own judgment and understanding.
Themes
TruthSelf-DoubtConfidenceQuestioningWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
During a personal development workshop, this quote can inspire attendees to trust their own experiences while remaining critical of absolute beliefs.
More from Andre Gide
All quotes →Do not do what someone else could do as well as you. Do not say, do not write what someone else could say, could write as well as you. Care for nothing in yourself but what you feel exists nowhere else. And, out of yourself create, impatiently or patiently, the most irreplaceable of beings.
Andre GideRead
Old hands soil, it seems, whatever they caress, but they too have their beauty when they are joined in prayer. Young hands were made for caresses and the sheathing of love. It is a pity to make them join too soon.
Andre GideRead
Through fear of resembling one another, through horror of having to submit, through uncertainty as well, through skepticism and complexity, there is a multitude of individual little beliefs for the triumph of strange little individuals.
Andre GideRead
It is the special quality of love not to be able to remain stationary, to be obliged to increase under pain of diminishing.
Andre GideRead
It is with noble sentiments that bad literature gets written.
Andre GideRead
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I used many times to touch my own chest and feel, under its asthmatic quiver, the engine of the heart and lungs and blood and feel amazed at what I sensed was the enormity of the power I possessed. Not magical power, but real power. The power simply to go on, the power to endure, that is power enough, but I felt I had also the power to create, to add, to delight, to amaze and to transform.
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