--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: No great deed, private or public, has…" description: "\"No great deed, private or public, has ever been undertaken in a bliss of certainty.\" — Leon Wieseltier" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dcd/leon-wieseltier-27120_bliss_no-great-deed-private-or-public-has-ever_2998931.png" --- # No great deed, private or public, has ever been undertaken… ![“No great deed, private or public, has ever been undertaken in a bliss of certainty.” quote by Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dcd/leon-wieseltier-27120_bliss_no-great-deed-private-or-public-has-ever_2998931.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dcd/leon-wieseltier-27120_bliss_no-great-deed-private-or-public-has-ever_2998931.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dcd/leon-wieseltier-27120_bliss_no-great-deed-private-or-public-has-ever_2998931.png) > “No great deed, private or public, has ever been undertaken in a bliss of certainty.” [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Great actions are undertaken despite uncertainty, not from a false sense of absolute confidence. **In simple terms:** Bold deeds require embracing doubt. Key Takeaway Act despite not knowing everything. Themes courage uncertainty action philosophy Mood inspirational thoughtful Type philosophical advice When to use this quote - starting a business - social reform - artistic creation - scientific research Key Concepts existentialism risk tolerance leadership Questions to Reflect On - What risks are worth taking? - How do you balance confidence with humility? A Different Perspective Overconfidence can lead to reckless choices. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bliss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bliss/) [Certainty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/certainty/) [Deeds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deeds/) [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) ## Related quotes > [Perhaps a great deed is belittled by an intention. And perhaps a small deed, by sincere intention, is made great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abdullah-ibn-mubarak/perhaps-a-great-deed-is-belittled-by-an-intention-and-perhaps-a-small/) [Abdullah ibn Mubarak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abdullah-ibn-mubarak/) > [Greatness really consists in doing some great deed with little means.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-conwell/greatness-really-consists-in-doing-some-great-deed-with-little-means/) [Russell Conwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-conwell/) > [I'm not trying to force you to do it. I'm just trying to make you understand you can do it too, as long as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-mark/i-m-not-trying-to-force-you-to-do-it-i-m-just-trying-to-make-you/) [Terry Mark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-mark/) > [You have enemies? Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed or created a new idea.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/you-have-enemies-why-it-is-the-story-of-every-man-who-has-done-a/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [It is a great deed to leave nothing for tomorrow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baltasar-gracian/it-is-a-great-deed-to-leave-nothing-for-tomorrow/) [Baltasar Gracian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baltasar-gracian/) > [What monster have we here? A great Deed at this hour of day? A great just deed - and not for pay? Absurd -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-barrett-browning/what-monster-have-we-here-a-great-deed-at-this-hour-of-day-a-great/) [Elizabeth Barrett Browning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-barrett-browning/) > [“Your whole life is a great deed. You're always doing things even when you've freaked.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-cherry/your-whole-life-is-a-great-deed-you-re-always-doing-things-even-when/) Kathleen Cherry > [No great deed is done by falterers who ask for certainty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/no-great-deed-is-done-by-falterers-who-ask-for-certainty/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“What great deed can parent do, than to pray for their children.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/what-great-deed-can-parent-do-than-to-pray-for-their-children/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“Our own humble and meek ones, fasters and keepers of silence, will arise and go forth for a great deed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/our-own-humble-and-meek-ones-fasters-and-keepers-of-silence-will/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [“There is grace for every great deed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/there-is-grace-for-every-great-deed/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [Such sober certainty of waking bliss.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/such-sober-certainty-of-waking-bliss/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) > [We can bear up under everything, if we have only the certainty that the monster Hitler with his insatiable bloodletting and plundering will have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-kellner/we-can-bear-up-under-everything-if-we-have-only-the-certainty-that/) [Friedrich Kellner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-kellner/) > [The artist's experience lies so unbelievably close to the sexual, to its pain and its pleasure, that the two phenomena are really just different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/the-artist-s-experience-lies-so-unbelievably-close-to-the-sexual-to/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [Ignorance is not bliss — it is oblivion. Determined ignorance is the hastiest kind of oblivion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-wylie/ignorance-is-not-bliss-it-is-oblivion-determined-ignorance-is-the/) [Philip Wylie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-wylie/) ## More by Leon Wieseltier > [What matters to me is that one identifies one's genuine obsessions, one's genuine commitments, one's genuine appetites, one pursues them seriously and far.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/what-matters-to-me-is-that-one-identifies-one-s-genuine-obsessions/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) > [But even now, with the crates piled high in the hall, what I see most plainly about the books is that they are beautiful.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/but-even-now-with-the-crates-piled-high-in-the-hall-what-i-see-most/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) > [“The doctrine of "exit strategy" fundamentally misunderstands the nature of war and, more generally, the nature of historical action. for the knowledge of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/the-doctrine-of-exit-strategy-fundamentally-misunderstands-the-nature/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) > [American Jews, like Americans, have a very consumerist attitude toward their identity: they pick and choose the bits of this and that they like.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/american-jews-like-americans-have-a-very-consumerist-attitude-toward/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) > [Incorruptibility by money is the old story... Now it's incorruptibility by media.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/incorruptibility-by-money-is-the-old-story-now-it-s-incorruptibility/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) > [The velocity and volume on the Web are so great that nothing is forgotten and nothing is remembered,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/the-velocity-and-volume-on-the-web-are-so-great-that-nothing-is/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) > [“A wall of books is a wall of windows.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/a-wall-of-books-is-a-wall-of-windows/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) > [I do not value religion chiefly for its morality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/i-do-not-value-religion-chiefly-for-its-morality/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) > [Here is a humanist proposition for the age of Google: The processing of information is not the highest aim to which the human spirit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/here-is-a-humanist-proposition-for-the-age-of-google-the-processing/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) > [Dilettantism is the sort of thing one must avoid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/dilettantism-is-the-sort-of-thing-one-must-avoid/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) > [The Internet is like closing time at a blue-collar bar in Boston. Everyone’s drunk and ugly and they’re going to pass out in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/the-internet-is-like-closing-time-at-a-blue-collar-bar-in-boston/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) > [A thoughtless citizen of a democracy is a delinquent citizen of a democracy,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/a-thoughtless-citizen-of-a-democracy-is-a-delinquent-citizen-of-a/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) > [I was not interested in spending 10 years in the culture wars.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/i-was-not-interested-in-spending-10-years-in-the-culture-wars/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) > [I hear it said of somebody that he is leading a double life. I think to myself: Just two?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/i-hear-it-said-of-somebody-that-he-is-leading-a-double-life-i-think/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) > [There are moral religious people and moral secular people, immoral religious people and immoral secular people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/there-are-moral-religious-people-and-moral-secular-people-immoral/) [Leon Wieseltier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) [Explore all 21 Leon Wieseltier quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/) ## More Bliss quotes > [Ignorance is not bliss — it is oblivion. Determined ignorance is the hastiest kind of oblivion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-wylie/ignorance-is-not-bliss-it-is-oblivion-determined-ignorance-is-the/) [Philip Wylie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-wylie/) > [The artist's experience lies so unbelievably close to the sexual, to its pain and its pleasure, that the two phenomena are really just different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/the-artist-s-experience-lies-so-unbelievably-close-to-the-sexual-to/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [and Venus among the fishes skips and is a she-dolphin she is the gay, delighted porpoise sporting with love and the sea she is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/and-venus-among-the-fishes-skips-and-is-a-she-dolphin-she-is-the-gay/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [Music is a lot more like solving an intricate puzzle with moments of pure, random creative bliss... whereas painting is much more purely random…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-boyd/music-is-a-lot-more-like-solving-an-intricate-puzzle-with-moments-of/) [Brandon Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-boyd/) > [Work and leisure are complementary parts of the same living process and cannot be separated without destroying the joy of work and the bliss…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-f-schumacher/work-and-leisure-are-complementary-parts-of-the-same-living-process/) [E. F. Schumacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-f-schumacher/) > [“Being around her now was nine parts bliss and one part torment. And he wanted it to last as long as possible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-ringle/being-around-her-now-was-nine-parts-bliss-and-one-part-torment-and-he/) [Molly Ringle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-ringle/) > [“He was still a mystery to me. And God, did I want to play Nancy Drew.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cora-carmack/he-was-still-a-mystery-to-me-and-god-did-i-want-to-play-nancy-drew/) [Cora Carmack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cora-carmack/) > [Eating, drinking, sleeping a little laughter ! much weeping! Is that all ? Do not die here like a worm. Wake up! Attain immortal bliss!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sivananda/eating-drinking-sleeping-a-little-laughter-much-weeping-is-that-all/) [Sivananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sivananda/) > [How do you find the divine power in yourself? The word enthusiasm means 'filled with a god,' so what makes you enthusiastic? Follow it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/how-do-you-find-the-divine-power-in-yourself-the-word-enthusiasm/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [When you follow your bliss a kind of track opens up, that's always been there, waiting for you. And the life that you should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/when-you-follow-your-bliss-a-kind-of-track-opens-up-that-s-always/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [When you drop your unnecessary things, you finally can swoop and fly in vast space. It is so blue, so bright, and so nice,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chogyam-trungpa/when-you-drop-your-unnecessary-things-you-finally-can-swoop-and-fly/) [Chogyam Trungpa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chogyam-trungpa/) > [“Everything we perceive to be solid and static is made up of almost entirely empty space.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-p-kauffman/everything-we-perceive-to-be-solid-and-static-is-made-up-of-almost/) [Joseph P. Kauffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-p-kauffman/) > [“The smell of her hair lingered just out of reach of his memory and left him with a nervous hum resonating throughout his body…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-tomblin/the-smell-of-her-hair-lingered-just-out-of-reach-of-his-memory-and/) [Erik Tomblin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-tomblin/) > [“They happen only when you are distant,aloof. They happen, they cannot be brought. They happen you cannot force them to happen. They are spontaneous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/osho/they-happen-only-when-you-are-distant-aloof-they-happen-they-cannot/) [Osho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/osho/) > [“Ignorance was bliss. Or at least less painfull”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiersten-white/ignorance-was-bliss-or-at-least-less-painfull/) [Kiersten White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiersten-white/) [Browse all 1,311 Bliss quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bliss/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "No great deed, private or public, has ever been undertaken in a bliss of certainty.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Leon Wieseltier" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/no-great-deed-private-or-public-has-ever-been-undertaken-in-a-bliss/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bliss" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/no-great-deed-private-or-public-has-ever-been-undertaken-in-a-bliss/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dcd/leon-wieseltier-27120_bliss_no-great-deed-private-or-public-has-ever_2998931.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dcd/leon-wieseltier-27120_bliss_no-great-deed-private-or-public-has-ever_2998931.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dcd/leon-wieseltier-27120_bliss_no-great-deed-private-or-public-has-ever_2998931.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“No great deed, private or public, has ever been undertaken in a bliss of certainty.” — Leon Wieseltier", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Leon Wieseltier", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-wieseltier/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "No great deed, private or public,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/no-great-deed-private-or-public-has-ever-been-undertaken-in-a-bliss/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-wieseltier/no-great-deed-private-or-public-has-ever-been-undertaken-in-a-bliss/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```