The inquiry of truth, which is the love-making, or wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature.

-Bacon, Francis,Viscount St Albans
  Essays, no.1,'Of  Truth'.

   I am of the firm belief that everybody could write books and I never understand why they don't. After all, everybody speaks.Once the grammar has been learnt it is simply talking on paper and in time learning what not to say.

-Bainbridge, Dame Beryl Margaret
  In D L Kirkpatrick (ed) Contemporary Novelists.

Rome's just a city like anywhere else. Avastly overrated city, I'd say. It trades on belief just as Stratford trades on Shakespeare.

-Wilson
  Inside Mr Enderby, pt.2, ch.1.

A belief is made religious, not so much by its content, as rather by the way it is held.

-Cupitt, Rev Don
  The Sea of Faith.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

-Dickens, CharlesJohn Huffam
  A  Tale of  Two Cities, bk.1, ch.1.

The abdication of Belief Makes the Behavior smallö Better an ignis fatuus Than no illume at all.

-Dickinson, Emily Elizabeth
c.1882  Complete Poems, no.1551 (first published1945).

It is my belief,Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.

-Doyle, SirArthur Conan
  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,'The Copper Beeches'.

One thing alone I charge you. As you live, believe in life! Always human beings will live and progress to a greater, broader and fuller life. The only possible death is to lose belief in this truth simply because the great end comes slowly, because time is long.

-Du Bois,W(illiam) E(dward) B(urghardt)
  Written 26  Jun, and read as an oration at his funeral.

Belief consists in affirming the affirmations of the soul; unbelief, in denying them.

-Emerson, RalphWaldo
  Representative Men,'Montaigne; or, The Skeptic'.

He believed in sudden conversion, a belief which may be right, but which is peculiarlyattractive to the half- baked mind.

-Forster, E(dward) M(organ)
  Howards End, ch.6.

I do not believe in Belief† Lord I disbelieveöhelp thou my unbelief.

-Forster, E(dward) M(organ)
Two Cheers for Democracy,'What I Believe'.

The more the fruits of knowledge become accessible to men, the more widespread is the decline of religious belief.

-Freud, Sigmund
  The Future of an Illusion.

A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.

-Hume, David
  An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, section10, pt.1.

All argument is against it; but all belief is for it.

-Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson
  Remark, 31 Mar, on the existence of ghosts. Quoted in James Boswell The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), vol.3.

There was scattered laughter in the rear of the theatre, leading to the belief that somebody was telling jokes back there.

-Kaufman, George S(imon)
Play review.

The authority of a belief imposed by religion surely destroys the discovery of reality.One relies on authority because one is afraid to stand alone.

-Krishnamurti,Jiddu
  BBC interview,7 Dec.

The happy ending is our national belief.

-McCarthy,Joseph R(aymond)
  'America the Beautiful', in Commentary, Sep.

God grant that we may not have a European war thrust upon us, and for such a stupid reason too, no I don't mean stupid, but to have to go to war on account of tiresome Serbia beggars belief.

-Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes known as Princess May
  Letter to her aunt Princess  Augusta, Grand-Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 28  Jul.

Faith may be defined brieflyas an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.

-Mencken, H(enry) L(ouis)
  Prejudices, 3rd series, ch.14.

They believed, in short, that they held in their steady hands the candle that would light the world. We have inherited this belief, and it has helped and hurt us.

-Miller, Arthur
  Of the settlers in Salem in1692. The Crucible, act1.