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What Is Certainty? 
Cara Soror, 
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. 
The Chinese cannot help thinking that the Octave has 
five notes. 
The more necessary anything appears to my mind, the 
more certain it is that I only assert a limitation . 
I slept with Faith, and found a corpse in my arms on 
awaking. 
I drank and danced all night with Doubt , and found her 
a virgin in the morning. 
(The Book of Lies) 
I wouldn't start to argue with the Chinese, if I were you; 
they might remind you that you exude the stench peculiar to 
corpses. 
Again, that other "Hymn to St. Thomas ," as I ought 
perhaps to have called it: 
Doubt. 
Doubt Thyself 
Doubt even if thou doubtest thyself 
Doubt all 
Doubt even if thou doubtest all. 
It seems sometimes as if beneath all conscious doubt 
there lay some deepest certainty. 0 kill it! slay the 
snake! 
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