--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If I am an agnostic, Calyxa, it's because…" description: "\"If I am an agnostic, Calyxa, it's because I'm also a realist.\" — Robert Charles Wilson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffd/robert-charles-wilson-4900_agnostic_if-i-am-an-agnostic-calyxa-it-s-because_2777810.png" --- # If I am an agnostic, Calyxa, it's because I'm also a… ![“If I am an agnostic, Calyxa, it's because I'm also a realist.” quote by Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffd/robert-charles-wilson-4900_agnostic_if-i-am-an-agnostic-calyxa-it-s-because_2777810.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffd/robert-charles-wilson-4900_agnostic_if-i-am-an-agnostic-calyxa-it-s-because_2777810.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffd/robert-charles-wilson-4900_agnostic_if-i-am-an-agnostic-calyxa-it-s-because_2777810.png) > “If I am an agnostic, Calyxa, it's because I'm also a realist.” [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Wilson uses the term “agnostic” to describe a stance that accepts uncertainty while maintaining realistic expectations about unknown phenomena. **In simple terms:** Being agnostic means accepting uncertainty while staying realistic. Key Takeaway Embrace uncertainty with a realistic outlook. Themes philosophy science belief Mood contemplative analytical Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - scientific research - personal decision making - public policy - education Key Concepts epistemology skepticism realism Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance doubt and action? - When is realism more useful than optimism? A Different Perspective Agnosticism may be seen as indecisive. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Agnostic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/agnostic/) [Realist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realist/) ## Related quotes > [The prayer of the agnostic: "O God, if there is a God, save my soul if I have a soul."](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-renan/the-prayer-of-the-agnostic-o-god-if-there-is-a-god-save-my-soul-if-i/) [Ernest Renan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-renan/) > [The endurance athlete is the ultimate realist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marty-liquori/the-endurance-athlete-is-the-ultimate-realist/) [Marty Liquori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marty-liquori/) > [My paintings are about light, about the way things look in their environment and especially about how things look painted. Form, colour and space…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-goings/my-paintings-are-about-light-about-the-way-things-look-in-their/) Ralph Goings > [Sooner or later, many idealists transform themselves into disheartened realists who mistakenly believe that giving up is the same thing as being realistic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/sooner-or-later-many-idealists-transform-themselves-into-disheartened/) [Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/) > [I think I probably hoped for it a little bit, but I'm not an optimist. I'm a realist... or maybe even a pessimist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clay-aiken/i-think-i-probably-hoped-for-it-a-little-bit-but-i-m-not-an-optimist/) [Clay Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clay-aiken/) > [I'm a realist, I understand football and situations in the game.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-snodgrass/i-m-a-realist-i-understand-football-and-situations-in-the-game/) [Robert Snodgrass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-snodgrass/) > [I'm a realist and a dreamer. There are certain things you can give certain people and certain things you can't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-winehouse/i-m-a-realist-and-a-dreamer-there-are-certain-things-you-can-give/) [Amy Winehouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-winehouse/) > [A true architect is not an artist but an optimistic realist. They take a diverse number of stakeholders, extract needs, concerns, and dreams, then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cameron-sinclair/a-true-architect-is-not-an-artist-but-an-optimistic-realist-they-take/) [Cameron Sinclair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cameron-sinclair/) > [Only the free and personal man is a good citizen (realist), and even with the lack of particular (scholarly, artistic, etc)culture, a tasteful judge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-stirner/only-the-free-and-personal-man-is-a-good-citizen-realist-and-even/) [Max Stirner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-stirner/) > [An executive should be a realist; and no one is less realistic than the cynic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-drucker/an-executive-should-be-a-realist-and-no-one-is-less-realistic-than/) [Peter Drucker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-drucker/) > [The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-graham/the-intelligent-investor-is-a-realist-who-sells-to-optimists-and-buys/) [Benjamin Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-graham/) > [Being a moral realist I see normative ethics as a search of the truth about our obligations and a search of explanation; the idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/torbjorn-tannsjo/being-a-moral-realist-i-see-normative-ethics-as-a-search-of-the-truth/) [Torbjorn Tannsjo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/torbjorn-tannsjo/) > [It always felt like I had to be a realist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-tatum/it-always-felt-like-i-had-to-be-a-realist/) [Jack Tatum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-tatum/) > [Golf is not, on the whole, a game for realists. By its exactitudes of measurements it invites the attention of perfectionists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heywood-hale-broun/golf-is-not-on-the-whole-a-game-for-realists-by-its-exactitudes-of/) Heywood Hale Broun > [I don't consider myself a cynic. I think of myself as a skeptic and a realist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-carlin/i-don-t-consider-myself-a-cynic-i-think-of-myself-as-a-skeptic-and-a/) [George Carlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-carlin/) ## More by Robert Charles Wilson > [Consciousness," according to current scientific thought, was something the higher mammals had evolved in order to help them reproduce, much the way a garden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/consciousness-according-to-current-scientific-thought-was-something/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [“Here she was back in the brightly lit world she had been avoiding for twenty years, and it was exactly as awful as she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/here-she-was-back-in-the-brightly-lit-world-she-had-been-avoiding-for/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [These movies belonged to the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries that period of great, unsustainable, and hedonistic prosperity, driven by the burning of Earth's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/these-movies-belonged-to-the-twentieth-and-early-twenty-first/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [When does loyalty become martyrdom?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/when-does-loyalty-become-martyrdom/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [“I thought of Einstein, and his insistence that no particular point of view was more privileged than any other: in other words his ‘general…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/i-thought-of-einstein-and-his-insistence-that-no-particular-point-of/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [What we cannot remember, we must rediscover.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/what-we-cannot-remember-we-must-rediscover/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [“The universe, it seemed, was full to brimming with lonesome places.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/the-universe-it-seemed-was-full-to-brimming-with-lonesome-places/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [“Fifteen minutes shy of two o’clock. The thick of the night. The zone of lost objectivity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/fifteen-minutes-shy-of-two-o-clock-the-thick-of-the-night-the-zone-of/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [It was the kind of experience, Molly said, that would grow calluses on an angel's ass.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/it-was-the-kind-of-experience-molly-said-that-would-grow-calluses-on/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [“I appreciated her bluntness. Maybe it came with her sudden sobriety. Here she was back in the brightly lit world she had been avoiding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/i-appreciated-her-bluntness-maybe-it-came-with-her-sudden-sobriety/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [“I had an idea that sobriety was a weapon. I thought it would give me an advantage over my enemies. I wasn't sober for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/i-had-an-idea-that-sobriety-was-a-weapon-i-thought-it-would-give-me/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [John Scalzi is a fresh and appealing new voice, and Old Man's War is classic SF seen from a modern perspective—a fast-paced tour of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/john-scalzi-is-a-fresh-and-appealing-new-voice-and-old-man-s-war-is/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [“Certainly it's a rare glimpse into the lives of the Secular Ancients. They don't seem as bad as the Dominion histories make them out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/certainly-it-s-a-rare-glimpse-into-the-lives-of-the-secular-ancients/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [We spent a lot of time discussing cosmology first. I think that was your father's unique way of evaluating people. You can tell a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/we-spent-a-lot-of-time-discussing-cosmology-first-i-think-that-was/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [It was possible at last to hear the silence to appreciate that there was a silence, deep and potent, out there beyond the pretension…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/it-was-possible-at-last-to-hear-the-silence-to-appreciate-that-there/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) [Explore all 105 Robert Charles Wilson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) ## More Agnostic quotes > [“She herself vacillated when it came to belief. She did not particularly believe in God. Or, rather, she didn't believe in a particular God.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allegra-goodman/she-herself-vacillated-when-it-came-to-belief-she-did-not/) [Allegra Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allegra-goodman/) > [The prayer of the agnostic: "O God, if there is a God, save my soul if I have a soul."](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-renan/the-prayer-of-the-agnostic-o-god-if-there-is-a-god-save-my-soul-if-i/) [Ernest Renan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-renan/) > [I'm actually, for the most part, a complete agnostic politically.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-witten/i-m-actually-for-the-most-part-a-complete-agnostic-politically/) [Edward Witten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-witten/) > [Even when I was saying I was Agnostic and trying to figure out my thoughts, I felt God was allowing me to do that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfre-woodard/even-when-i-was-saying-i-was-agnostic-and-trying-to-figure-out-my/) [Alfre Woodard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfre-woodard/) > [There is, in fact, nothing about religious opinions that entitles them to any more respect than other opinions get. On the contrary, they tend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/there-is-in-fact-nothing-about-religious-opinions-that-entitles-them/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [“Some people are so stiff and inhumane as the dogma's they believe in”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bangambiki-habyarimana/some-people-are-so-stiff-and-inhumane-as-the-dogma-s-they-believe-in/) [Bangambiki Habyarimana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bangambiki-habyarimana/) > [“An atheist is someone who is disappointed in his search of god. He is a man who strongly needed god but couldn't find him.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bangambiki-habyarimana/an-atheist-is-someone-who-is-disappointed-in-his-search-of-god-he-is/) [Bangambiki Habyarimana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bangambiki-habyarimana/) > [If a humanist or an atheist or an agnostic says, "We'll bake you a pie," we can go right into the kitchen and bake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madalyn-murray-o-hair/if-a-humanist-or-an-atheist-or-an-agnostic-says-we-ll-bake-you-a-pie/) [Madalyn Murray O'Hair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madalyn-murray-o-hair/) > [I'm agnostic because I went through the usual process of parents insisting you go to church, and yet they didn't. So there's me, sitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ridley-scott/i-m-agnostic-because-i-went-through-the-usual-process-of-parents/) [Ridley Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ridley-scott/) > [Intellect, at its best, can make you agnostic. Being theist or atheist is still a matter of choice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raheel-farooq/intellect-at-its-best-can-make-you-agnostic-being-theist-or-atheist/) [Raheel Farooq](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raheel-farooq/) > [To be agnostic is to be open-minded.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-be-agnostic-is-to-be-open-minded/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [All Gaza's temples are torn down and burned and the city is cleansed of every belief but the Christian faith. The most stubborn opponents,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramsay-macmullen/all-gaza-s-temples-are-torn-down-and-burned-and-the-city-is-cleansed/) [Ramsay MacMullen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramsay-macmullen/) > [I'm still agnostic. But in the words of Elton Richards, I'm now a reverant agnostic. Which isn't an oxymoron, I swear. I now believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-m-still-agnostic-but-in-the-words-of-elton-richards-i-m-now-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I'm agnostic. By definition, I'm unsure of what to believe in, but I'm also borderline-capable of believing in anything and everything, or nothing at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-lola/i-m-agnostic-by-definition-i-m-unsure-of-what-to-believe-in-but-i-m/) [Lauren Lola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-lola/) > [“The Agnostic is one who asserts 'what no one denies' that there are limits to the sphere of human intelligence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-stephen/the-agnostic-is-one-who-asserts-what-no-one-denies-that-there-are/) [Leslie Stephen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-stephen/) [Browse all 492 Agnostic quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/agnostic/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If I am an agnostic, Calyxa, it's because I'm also a realist.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Charles Wilson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/if-i-am-an-agnostic-calyxa-it-s-because-i-m-also-a-realist/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Agnostic" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/if-i-am-an-agnostic-calyxa-it-s-because-i-m-also-a-realist/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffd/robert-charles-wilson-4900_agnostic_if-i-am-an-agnostic-calyxa-it-s-because_2777810.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffd/robert-charles-wilson-4900_agnostic_if-i-am-an-agnostic-calyxa-it-s-because_2777810.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffd/robert-charles-wilson-4900_agnostic_if-i-am-an-agnostic-calyxa-it-s-because_2777810.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If I am an agnostic, Calyxa, it's because I'm also a realist.” — Robert Charles Wilson", "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": "Robert Charles Wilson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If I am an agnostic, Calyxa,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/if-i-am-an-agnostic-calyxa-it-s-because-i-m-also-a-realist/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/if-i-am-an-agnostic-calyxa-it-s-because-i-m-also-a-realist/#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 } } ] } ```