Are wiser people are full of doubts and the fools always certain of themselves?

Question

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Answer 1

I guess I'm a fool.



A fool for love.

Answer 2

That's a very cynical way of looking at things. Some of the greatest people in the world were very certain of themselves. Ghandi, for instance. Everyone has doubts, but he knew he was in the right. And some of the worst fools are those who constantly doubt themselves. Like McClellan in the Civil War. He was a brilliant general, but he constantly doubted himself. If he would've had confidence, the Union could've won the war 3 years earlier than it did. I think the worst fanatics are plagued by doubts, but persist in their fanaticism because it's all they have left. Like a beast trapped in a corner.
The real problem with this world is that good people stand by and do nothing as it rots. It's not about doubts and certainty, it's about action. So get up and do something.

Answer 3

It depends. Yes, in the idea that fools don't really care about what they are REALLY up against, but wise people are always thinking it through, thinking of the pros and cons, etc. Fools just say "OK I'll do this" and go and do it, without thinking of the consequences. They might think about what they will gain, but not about what they will lose or how it will hurt them.

Answer 4

For the most part, yes. When someone knows everything, he is a fool. When someone argues with the person who claims to know everything, he is a bigger fool. When someone knows something is fact and doubts himself, he is also a fool. There are three fools, each with their own problems, but the latter is the least unwise.

Answer 5

Russell knew whereof he spoke. A scientist always has doubts, and questions everything; only by such questioning is error weeded out. The theist, having come by an opinion that makes him feel good, doubts nothing, and even refuses to consider evidence proving his beliefs to be erroneous.

Answer 6

Fools and fanatics focus on narrow parameters fools because of mental ability, fanatics because of ideology. The wise are sometimes caught up in all the variables which render a decision difficult.

Answer 7

Bertrand Russell was a wise man as he was not sure of himself.

Answer 8

William Butler Yeats put it well in his poem The Second Coming:
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Answer 9

I think that a wise person knows that he/she knows very little at all for certain; a fool thinks they know everything already, and thus fail to take opportunities to learn.

Just my opinion.

Answer 10

Wiser people are those who can flow between opposite ends of the dualistic spectrum smoother than a paramecium in fluid, and conduct themselves altruistically, compassionately and know that they don't know it all... i.e. they see the "emptiness" of it all, that it has form, but yet is empty of form.

_()_

Answer 11

Yes. Those who think that they know every thing; actually they do not know anything. Those who accept their ignorance and say that they may not be knowing correctly, they are wiser than the former. This is also told in the Upanishads.