"'One all too sure of God to need
That token to the world without
Of homage paid by faith to doubt,
The recitation of a Creed.'
... Where do they come from, did you say? 'In Memoriam,' I suppose."
"Can't recollect them!... I wish you would tell me what you understand by the word 'believe.'"
"I'm very doubtful. It just depends on how I use it. When I tell my wife that I believe her letter has gone to the Post, my meaning is clear. I mean that I didn't see it on the hall-table when I last looked. When I say that I believe I am engaged on Thursday, it is equally unmistakable. I mean that I don't want to meet the So-and-so's at your house, morning-dress. But when I say, as I am apt to do, that I believe in God Almighty, I do so with a misgiving that my meaning is not intelligible to myself. Perhaps I regard my speech as a civility to the absolutely Unknown—I really couldn't say. Or it may be I only use it in fulfilment of a convention which, so long as I comply with its conditions, binds all the other signatories not to bother."
"You always make me think you are going to be serious, and then you go off at a tangent. I never have any doubt what I mean by the word...."
"What, for instance?"
"Whatever my mind does not question, I believe."