Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.
Interpretation
Faith involves believing in something that doesn't seem likely to happen.
This quote by H. L. Mencken suggests that faith is characterized by believing in outcomes that are improbable or unlikely to occur, emphasizing a sense of commitment to beliefs that defy logic or rational explanation. It highlights how faith often requires embracing uncertainty and the irrational, making it a fundamentally subjective experience that transcends empirical evidence.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about overcoming fears and embracing uncertainty.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
I sit in the sky like a sphinx misunderstood; My heart of snow is wed to the whiteness of swans; I hate the movement that displaces the rigid lines, With lips untaught neither tears nor laughter do I know.
When God issues a call to us, it is always a holy call. The vocation of dying is a sacred vocation. To understand that is one of the most important lessons a Christian can ever learn. When the summons comes, we can respond in many ways. We can become angry, bitter or terrified. But if we see it as a call from God and not a threat from Satan, we are far more prepared to cope with its difficulties.
Our individual life is brief, and perhaps the whole life of mankind will be brief if measured in astronomical scale
You find in the Koran hundreds of verses to support women's rights, and perhaps four or five that do not.
How sad the world is, so beautiful yet so absurd.
Because of its phantom nature, and despite elaborate defense mechanisms, the ego is very vulnerable and insecure, and it sees itself as constantly under threat. This, by the way, is the case even if the ego is outwardly very confident.
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