leap of faith

English

Etymology

Often attributed to Søren Kierkegaard, although he never used the exact wording.

Noun

leap of faith (plural leaps of faith)

  1. (figuratively) The act of believing in something despite lack of proof of its truth or existence, or the attempt of something without being sure of its possible outcome.
    He took a leap of faith by publishing his first book independently.
    • 2010, Christopher Nolan, Inception (motion picture), spoken by Saito (Ken Watanabe):
      Don't you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone?
    • 2021 July 28, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Chasing shadows will fail”, in RAIL, number 936, page 3:
      Considering that the GBR proposal is supported by DfT (which would lose considerable power) with the support of the Treasury (which will have to make a major leap of faith), those critics need to frame their complaints very carefully if we are to avoid yet worse problems.

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See also

Further reading
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