Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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“You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can't lead to a good conclusion.”
Julian Assange (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our No. 1 enemy is ignorance. And I believe that is the No. 1 enemy for everyone — it's not understanding what actually is going on in the world.”
Julian Assange (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: 朱利安·阿桑奇 (zh)
“What we celebrate today is not a victory of party or of individuals. What we celebrate is a beginning as well as an end; a change as well as a restoration. A beginning to end poverty, and misery; a beginning to end ignorance and hopelessness; and a beginning to restore all that is good, beautiful and sublime in our lives as one people under God.”
Bukola Saraki (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ignorance of Scripture is the root of every error in religion, and the source of every heresy.”
J. C. Ryle (1816–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“With all the stir made about education, the ignorance of our own country's history is something lamentable and appalling and depressing.”
J. C. Ryle (1816–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I won’t put my ignorance on an altar and call it God.”
Robert Charles Wilson (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Maybe you were better off not knowing.” “Ignorance is not bliss.”
Robert Charles Wilson (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth is a perilous commodity,” Julian admitted, “but so is ignorance, Adam—more so.”
Robert Charles Wilson (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man forgets. God forgives. Man forgets God's Truth. God forgives man's ignorance.”
Sri Chinmoy (1931–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When we valorize ignorance and debase reason, we diminish man and the humanity that dwells within him, to bum an old fashioned phrase from Kant.”
Laura Penny (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The humanities are despised because they are dangerous. They arm us with the intellectual weapons we need to fight the forces of ignorance and idiocracy, and to free ourselves from freedumb.”
Laura Penny (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The innocence which is simply ignorance is not virtue.”
John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A definition of ignorance is not KNOWING what we DO & improvement is handicapped when we don't DO what we KNOW.”
Lupe Fiasco (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Never apologize for being real...ever. Reality is the enemy of fakes, frauds, liars and protectors of ignorance. It scares them.”
Lupe Fiasco (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't think we are ever prepared for the level of warfare at which ignorance fights.”
Steve Maraboli (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As for your ignorance — do not fear it. Instead be humbled by it and tend to it.”
Steve Maraboli (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Today's a new day. It's your day. You shape it. Don't let it be shaped by someone else's ignorance or fear.”
Steve Maraboli (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When you understand the Good Book to be one that isn't necessarily filled with stories to be believed, but instead messages to be received — you free yourself from the burden of previous ignorance and agendas and you allow the activation of living truth within.”
Steve Maraboli (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am convinced of the urgent need for democratic people to think clearly without the distortions due to unconscious bias and unrecognised ignorance. Our failures in thinking in part due to our faults which we could to some extent overcome were we to see clearly how these faults arise.”
Susan Stebbing (1885–1943) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Thinking to Some Purpose (1939), Preface
“Fretting about a dearth of randomness seems like worrying that humanity might use up its last reserves of ignorance.”
Brian Hayes (scientist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Perhaps the best known, and certainly the most vaunted, "discovery" of modern public opinion research is the indifference and ignorance of a majority of the electorate in western democracies.”
Moses I. Finley (1912–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mystery is delightful, but unscientific, since it depends upon ignorance.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Analysis of Mind (1921), Lecture I: Recent Criticisms of "Consciousness
“Puritans cannot destroy a beautiful thing, yet, by means of their extraordinary prurience, they can almost taint beauty for a moment. It is chiefly, I regret to say, through journalism that such people find expression. I regret it because there is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“England has done one thing; it has invented and established Public Opinion, which is an attempt to organize the ignorance of the community, and to elevate it to the dignity of physical force.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Religion, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.”
Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The virtues chose Modesty to be their queen. "I did not know that I was a virtue," she said. "Why did you not choose Innocence?" "Because of her ignorance," they replied. "She knows nothing but that she is a virtue.”
Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[The] truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but there it is.”
Winston Churchill (1874–1965) first seen 1916 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons, May 17, 1916 "Royal Assent".
“Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy.”
Winston Churchill (1874–1965) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech (May 28, 1948) at the Scottish Unionist Conference, Perth, Scotland, in Never Give In! : The best of Winston Churchill's Speeches (2003), Hyperion, p. 446
“The true conquests, the only ones that cause no regret, are those made over ignorance.”
Napoleon (1769–1821) first seen 1797 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (November 26, 1797) as quoted in Andrew Roberts Napoleon: A Life p. 157
“Obedience to public authority ought not to be based either on ignorance or stupidity.”
Napoleon (1769–1821) said by 1821 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The road to ignorance is paved with good editions. Only the illiterate can afford to buy good books now.”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Days with Bernard Shaw (1949) by Stephen Winsten
“I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day.”
Douglas Adams (1952–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The magic of first love is our ignorance that it can ever end.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ignorance never settles a question.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1866 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (14 May 1866)
“The complete emancipation of women from the ties which held them back in the past, during the ages of despotism and ignorance, is a basic aim of the Party and the Revolution. Women make up one half of society. Our society will remain backward and in chains unless its women are liberated, enlightened and educated.”
Saddam Hussein (1937–2006) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Women: One Half of Our Society" (1981).
“We are so proud of our guarantees of freedom in thought and speech and worship, that, unconsciously, we are guilty of one of the greatest errors that ignorance can make — we assume our standard of values is shared by all other humans in the world.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Strategies of Containment : A Critical Appraisal of Post-war American National Security Policy (1982) by John Lewis Gaddis
“All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then Success is sure.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mark Twain's Notebook, 1887
“It is to the advantage of despots to keep people ignorant; it is to our advantage to make them intelligent. We must lead all of them gradually away from ignorance.”
Mao Zedong (1893–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Advertisers are the interpreters of our dreams — Joseph interpreting for Pharaoh. Like the movies, they infect the routine futility of our days with purposeful adventure. Their weapons are our weaknesses: fear, ambition, illness, pride, selfishness, desire, ignorance. And these weapons must be kept as bright as a sword.”
E. B. White (1899–1985) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Truth in Advertising," The New Yorker (11 July 1936)
“'Instead of noble men, let us have noble villages of men. If it is necessary, omit one bridge over the river, round a little there and throw one arch at least over the darker gulf of ignorance which surrounds us'”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) said by 1862 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Editorial, Andhra Granthalayam, vol. 1, no. 2 (1939) p. 6
“For my part I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance.”
Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Response to a heckler asking him to state his beliefs, as quoted in Time magazine (1 November 1963)
“Ignorance is stubborn and prejudice dies hard.”
Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: According to "The Home Book of American Quotations" (1967), by Bruce Bohle, Stevenson said this in an address to the United Nations on October 1, 1963
“The idea of a news broadcast once was to find someone with information and broadcast it. The idea now is to find someone with ignorance and spread it around.”
P. J. O'Rourke (1947–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There Poetry shall tune her sacred voice, And wake from ignorance the Western World.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Tragedy of Irene (1749), Act IV, Sc. 1
“Ignorance in other men may be censured as idleness, in an academick it must be abhorred as treachery.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) said by 1784 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Character and Duty of an Academick", pub. 1793.
“Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate, Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) said by 1784 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was the noisome fruit of ignorance and filth, ever recurring, the Black Death, the Great Plague, which stride like giant skeletons through past centuries, scything down the pale, sad people of the countryside.”
Émile Zola (1840–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Pt. 1, sec. 5 (tr. Douglas Parmée, 1980)
“If we define a miracle as an effect of which the cause is unknown to us, then we make our ignorance the source of miracles! and the universe itself would be a standing miracle. A miracle might be perhaps defined more exactly as an effect which is not the consequence or effect of any known laws of nature.”
Charles Babbage (1791–1871) said by 1871 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For it was my master who taught me not only how very little I knew but also that any wisdom to which I might ever aspire could consist only in realizing more fully the infinity of my ignorance.”
Karl Popper (1902–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source