Hugh Prather Quotes

Do you believe in God, doctor?" No - but what does that really mean? I'm fumbling in the dark, struggling to make something out. But I've long ceased finding that original.

Doubt always coexists with faith, for in the presence of certainty who would need faith at all?

That's true that I'm "not religious as that term is conventionally understood," though I've never been an atheist. Atheism is an active faith; it says, "I believe there is no God." But I don't know what I believe. I was brought up a Lutheran in Jamestown, North Dakota. I have trouble with faith. I'm not proud of this. I don't think it makes me an intellectual. I would believe if I could, and I may be able to before it's over. I would welcome that.

Going in faith does not necessarily mean going with serenity or without doubts. Faith can be difficult.

I believe with the best of who I am in God, but I sometimes think if anybody would watch me and [they] didn't believe a damn thing, they would have a very hard time deciding which of us is which.

Not believing has a sickness which is believing a little.

If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" then surely we are also permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.

[Søren ] Kierkegaard said it for me a long time ago. He said, 'You can't really think yourself into a faith, into a religion. It's something you have to make a leap into faith.' And I've never been able to do that. I wish I could. Then maybe I could believe in an afterlife.

I guess I have a faith. I have an overriding feeling that all of this can't be for nothing. But then I also fully understand that it might be.

Sometimes I have a hard time distinguishing between faith and hope.

I asked God if it was a sin and He didn't say anything.

I'm not sure about anything as far as religion and spirituality go.

You know, my faith is one that admits some doubt.

Life is doubt, and faith without doubt is nothing but death.

Faith embraces itself and the doubt about itself.

And she would say, "Today you believe in God?" And he would say, "Today I believe in love".

True belief is not about blind submission. It is about open-eyed acceptance, and acceptance requires persistent distance from the truth, and that distance is doubt. Doubt, in other words, can feed faith, rather than destroy it. And it forces us, even while believing, to recognize our fundamental duty with respect to God's truth: humility. We do not know. Which is why we believe.

I do not understand! I understand nothing! I cannot understand nor do I want to understand! I want to believe! To Believe!

I believe in God, but I'm not too clear on the other details.

Doubt is faith's shadow.

I think maybe it is better to believe than not to believe. But I couldn't tell you why.

Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain of.

Sometimes I believe...Sometimes I really do believe.

I have beliefs, of course, like everyone-but I don't always believe in them.

Let those who believe, believe. Let those who doubt, doubt.