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All Faith is false, all Faith is true: Truth is the shattered mirror strown
In myriad bits; while each believes his little bit the whole to own.

— Richard Francis Burton The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

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More quotes by Richard Francis Burton

Reason is Life's sole arbiter, the magic Laby'rinth's single clue:
Worlds lie above, beyond its ken; what crosses it can ne'er be true.

The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

Travellers like poets are mostly an angry race.

Of the gladest moments in human life, methinks is the departure upon a distant journey to unknown lands.

Conquer thyself, till thou hast done this, thou art but a slave; for it is almost as well to be subjected to another's appetite as to thine own.

Support a compatriot against a native, however the former may blunder or plunder.

Exploration of the Highlands of Brazil (1869)

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Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

Thomas Jefferson Letter to Peter Carr (1787)

I had never doubted my own abilities, but I was quite prepared to believe that "the world" would decline to recognize them.

Colin Wilson Postscript to the Outsider (1967)

Love is the active, working principle in all true faith. It is its very soul, without which it is dead. "Faith works by love."

Jonathan Edwards Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Richard Francis Burton (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.