Verified answer

Well, that is an interesting quote. Most quotes will be interpreted different by everyone, depending on how it relates to them. I will go over the more literal translation:

Let's assume someone is doing research, say on Religion, and he begins the investigation with a closed mind. what he finds will likely shatter his closed opinion on the matter, leaving him with doubts about what he has been taught throughout his life.

Now lets assume that same man begins with doubts already in place. He will likely find the answer he is looking for and become certain that this is what he wants to believe.

This, of course, is only one out of the many ways it can be interpreted. Just look at it yourself and find how it relates to you. Remember, there is no wrong answer.

As I recall, Sir Francis Bacon and Descartes (the cogito ergo sum -- "I think before I am" guy) both essentially said the same thing: Almost everything old is bad, except religion (because the time period they lived in they would be killed if they said religion), and to find out the truth you need to learn answers for yourself.

Based on that, I think he's saying if you say you're absolutely sure in something, you have absolute faith in it, you might be wrong. Eventually you will start to doubt your belief. Now, I believe this is the beginning of the Enlightenment period, not sure. It would make sense though, because the Church dictated basically everything in people's lives, including areas of science. So the Church might tell you something, you think you believe in it, but over time you start to doubt that one thing that the Church told you, and eventually you start to doubt everything they told you. However, if you start out admitting that you're unsure, you have a more open mind, and the more you learn the more sure of yourself you are. When you learn the truth of something, you are certain it is the truth because you discovered it as such rather than somebody told you it.

Other notes about Bacon: His downfall was he didn't understand the role of math in science, and he was the one who said "Knowledge is Power." Preferred inductive reasoning to deductive reasoning.