Confusion

Confusion (from Latin confusĭo, -ōnis, noun of action from confundere "to pour together", or "to mingle together" also "to confuse") is the state of being bewildered or unclear in one’s mind about something.

The one who knows he is confused is not that confused. ~ Zhuangzi

Quotes

• All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.
  • John Adams, in Michael A. Kirchubel Vile Acts of Evil - Volume 1 - Banking in America, Mike Kirchubel, 2009, p. 246

• Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
  • Anonymous, in First Epistle of Peter 2:6 (traditionally attributed to Saint Peter); this starts one of the passages through which the Society of Friends indicate divine sanction of the universal priesthood of all believers.

• When time itself shall be no more,
  And all things in confusion hurl'd,
  Music shall then exert it's power,
  And sound survive the ruins of the world
  • Joseph Addison, in Song for St. Cecilia's Day (1692)

• Should the whole frame of Nature round him break,
  In ruin and confusion hurled,
  He, unconcerned, would hear the mighty crack,
  And stand secure amidst a falling world.
  • Joseph Addison, in a translation of Horace, Odes, Book III, ode iii.

• If we seek the liberation of the people by means of a lie, we will surely grow confused, go astray, and lose sight of our objective, and if we have any influence at all on the people we will lead them astray as well — in other words, we will be acting in the spirit of reaction and to its benefit.
  • Mikhail Bakunin, in God and the State (1871; publ. 1882)

• Whatever I learned,
  Whatever I knew,
  Seems like those faded years of childhood that flew,
  Away in some dilemma,
  Always in some confusion,
  The purpose of this life,
  Seems like an illusion!
  
  • Mehek Bassi, in Unveiling Our Illusion: New Moon/ Solar Eclipse, 29 April 2014

• Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
  • Melody Beattie, in The Art of Being: 101 Ways to Practice Purpose in Your Life, Penguin, 17 April 2008, p. 92

• Let nothing be called natural
  In an age of bloody confusion,
  Ordered disorder, planned caprice,
  And dehumanized humanity, lest all things
  Be held unalterable!
  • Bertolt Brecht, in The Exception and the Rule (1937), Prologue

• Times of great calamity and confusion have been productive for the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm.
  • Charles Caleb Colton, in History of Logan County and Ohio: Containing a History of the State of Ohio ..., O.L. Baskin, 1880, p. 577

• Should feel happy, should feel glad
  I'm alive and it can't be bad
  But back on planet Earth they shatter the illusion
  The world's going 'round in a state of confusion
  • Ray Davies, in "State of Confusion" on State of Confusion (1983) by The Kinks

• Lyin' awake in a cold, cold sweat
  Am I overdrawn, am I going in debt?
  It gets worse, the older that you get
  No escape from the state of confusion

  I'm in
  State of confusion
  I'm in

  • Ray Davies, in "State of Confusion" on State of Confusion (1983) by The Kinks

• What is important is to spread confusion, not eliminate it.
  • Salvador Dalí, in Steven J. Simske Meta-Algorithmics: Patterns for Robust, Low Cost, High Quality Systems, John Wiley & Sons, 28 May 2013, p. 272

• Men tighten the knot of confusion

Into perfect misunderstanding.

• T.S. Eliot, The Family Reunion (1939)

• A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem.
  • Albert Einstein, in Anuradha Kataria Democracy on Trial, All Rise!, Algora Publishing, 2011, p. 84

• Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems, in my opinion, to characterize our age.
  • Albert Einstein, in Anslie H. Abraham Why Evil Rules - If God Is...: A Question of Believers and Non-Believers Alike, Xlibris Corporation, 13-Apr-2011, p. 9

• History and experience tell us that moral progress comes not in comfortable and complacent times, but out of trial and confusion.
  • Gerald R. Ford, in Joy Ashe Gene Defense: A Fictional Genetic Thriller, Xlibris Corporation, 22 October 2010, p. 263

• In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death.
  • Anne Frank, in Memorable Quotations: Jewish Writers of the Past, iUniverse, 2003, p. 37

• Confusion occurs, growing up in the cold world.
  • Curtis Jackson, "Hate it or Love It" (January 2005)

• We are confused. Only by admitting our confusion can we begin to build something new.
  • Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz “Nine Suggestions For Radicals, or Lessons From the Gulf War” in The Issue is Power: Essays on Women, Jews, Violence and Resistance (1992)

• For almost a quarter of a century the affairs of the world and its ideas have been in indescribable confusion. In most cases the confusion of ideas is manifest without the aid of polemic or controversy. It is simple evidence of the chaotic state of the world.
  • Lucien Laurat, Marxism and Democracy, 1940, published by the Left Book Club, Victor Gollancz Ltd, London; translated by Edward Fitzgerald. Text online at the Marxists Internet Archive.

• We will never be brought to confusion, even in such a baffling and muddled world as ours, if we have a faith in a God of love as the ultimate power in the universe. The words "God is love" have this deep meaning: that everything that is against love is ultimately doomed and damned.
  • Halford E. Luccock, in "Keeping Life Out of Confusion" (1938)

• The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing... not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares.
  • Henri Nouwen, in Larry Chang Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing, Gnosophia Publishers, 2006, p. 326

• Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our minds.
  • George Santayana, in Larry Chang Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing, Gnosophia Publishers, 2006, p. 117

• In any election, only a percentage of the people vote.  Those who can't vote because of age or other disqualifications, and those who don't vote because of confusion, apathy, or disgust at a Tweedledum-Tweedledummer choice can hardly be said to have any voice in the passage of the laws which govern them.  Nor can the individuals as yet unborn, who will be ruled by those laws in the future.
  • Linda & Morris Tannehill, Ch. 4, "Government—An Unnecessary Evil", The Market for Liberty (1970), pp. 33–34.

• If the Great Way perishes there will morality and duty. When cleverness and knowledge arise great lies will flourish. When relatives fall out with one another there will be filial duty and love. When states are in confusion there will be faithful servants.
  • Lao Tzu, in Brian Weatherley An Essential Part of Being’, Tao Are You, 12 November 2010

• Willingness to change is a strength, even if it means plunging part of the company into total confusion for a while.
  • Jack Welch, in Prof. Dr. Patricia Klarner, The Rhythm of Change: A Longitudinal Analysis of the European Insurance Industry, Springer, 12-Aug-2010, p. 1

• The one who knows he is confused is not that confused.
  • Zhuangzi, The Book of Chuang Tzu, as translated by M. Palmer, et. al. (Penguin: 1996), p. 103

See also

• Awareness
• Thought
• Understanding