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“As I have said before, the ever more sophisticated weapons piling up in the arsenals of the wealthiest and the mightiest can kill the illiterate, the ill, the poor and the hungry but they cannot kill ignorance, illnesses, poverty or hunger.”
Fidel Castro (1926–2016) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the International Conference on Financing for Development (March 2002)
“We guard against the forces of anti-Christian aggression, which may attack us from without, and the forces of ignorance and fear which may corrupt us from within.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at Madison Square Garden, October 28, 1940
“We have faith that future generations will know that here, in the middle of the twentieth century, there came a time when men of good will found a way to unite, and produce, and fight to destroy the forces of ignorance, and intolerance, and slavery, and war.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address to White House Correspondents' Association, Washington, D.C. (12 February 1943)
“A Dialogue between two Infants in the womb concerning the state of this world, might handsomely illustrate our ignorance of the next, whereof methinks we yet discourse in Plato's Den, and are but Embryon Philosophers.”
Thomas Browne (1605–1682) said by 1682 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.”
Richard Feynman (1918–1988) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: address "What is Science?", presented at the fifteenth annual meeting of the National Science Teachers Association, in New York City (1966), published in The Physics Teacher, volume 7, issue 6 (1969), p. 313-320
“It is in the admission of ignorance and the admission of uncertainty that there is a hope for the continuous motion of human beings in some direction that doesn't get confined, permanently blocked, as it has so many times before in various periods in the history of man.”
Richard Feynman (1918–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All humans are stupid, but the smarter ones at least have a handle on their own ignorance.”
John Cleese (born 1939) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In conversation with Matthew Syed. Matthew Syed, "When dogma beats data, reason is lost", The Sunday Times (27 September 2020), p. 21
“Ignorance, there is no authority in the world like it.”
Orson Welles (1915–1985) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From The Dick Cavett Show (May 14, 1970)
“I spend... twenty times more for you people than any other commercial I've ever made. You are such pests! Now what is it you want? In your... depths of your ignorance, what is it you want? Whatever it is you want, I can't deliver, 'cause I just don't see it.”
Orson Welles (1915–1985) said by 1985 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The question is asked in ignorance, by one who does not even know what can have led him to ask it.”
Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) said by 1855 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How averse human beings were ever to admit ignorance!”
Agatha Christie (1890–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How marvelous books are, crossing worlds and centuries, defeating ignorance and, finally, cruel time itself.”
Gore Vidal (1925–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is a conceded fact that woman is being reared as a sex commodity, and yet she is kept in absolute ignorance of the meaning and importance of sex.”
Emma Goldman (1869–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Popular ignorance of foreign policy is incomparably greater than of domestic policy.”
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You bring me the deepest joy that can be felt by a man whose invincible belief is that Science and Peace will triumph over Ignorance and War, that nations will unite, not to destroy, but to build, and that the future will belong to those who will have done most for suffering humanity.”
Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) first seen 1892 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks at a celebration honoring his seventieth birthday, the Sorbonne, Paris, France (27 December 1892); Vol. 2, p. 297
“(...) who is he that is not 'he' because of an idiot's ignorance?”
Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God's purpose in sending His Prophets unto men is twofold. The first is to liberate the children of men from the darkness of ignorance, and guide them to the light of true understanding. The second is to ensure the peace and tranquillity of mankind, and provide all the means by which they can be established.”
Bahá'u'lláh (1817–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out. He will be wiser but less cocksure, happier but less self-satisfied, humbler in acknowledging his ignorance yet better equipped to understand the relationship of words to things, of systematic reasoning to the unfathomable Mystery which it tries, forever vainly, to comprehend.”
Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out. He will be wiser but less sure, happier but less self-satisfied, humbler in acknowledging his ignorance yet better equipped to understand the relationship of words to things, of systematic reasoning to the unfathomable mystery which it tries, forever vainly, to comprehend.”
Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ηe knew nothing except just the fact of his ignorance.”
Socrates (470–399 BC) said by 399 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The rudeness of many Americans depressed him, a rudeness based on a solid ignorance of the whole concept of manners, and on the proposition that for social purposes, all people are more or less equal and interchangeable.”
William S. Burroughs (1914–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“L'ignorance et l'erreur sont nécessaires à la vie comme le pain et l'eau.”
Anatole France (1844–1924) first seen 1899 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Pierre Nozière (1899), book II: Notes écrites par Pierre Nozière en marge de son gros Plutarque
“All you've got to do is own up to your ignorance honestly, and you'll find people who are eager to fill your head with information.”
Walt Disney (1901–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Mike Strickland, Director of Photographers at Walt Disney, Co. in Power Marketing for Wedding and Portrait Photographers (2004) by Mitche Graf, p. 19
“Capital is a coward. It flees from corruption and bad policies, conflict and unpredictability. It shuns ignorance, disease and illiteracy. Capital goes where it is welcomed and where investors can be confident of a return on the resources they have put at risk. It goes to countries where women can work, children can read, and entrepreneurs can dream.”
Colin Powell (1937–2021) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Ambassador Cameron R. Hume in a speech on U.S. Government Initiatives in South Africa at the American Chamber of Commerce, Johannesburg, South Africa (18 September 2002).
“Sophistry is only fit to make men more conceited in their ignorance.”
John Locke (1632–1704) said by 1704 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He that knows anything, knows this, in the first place, that he need not seek long for instances of his ignorance.”
John Locke (1632–1704) said by 1704 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You never needed anybody. If you had ever bothered to come to know me, you'd know that that is the exact opposite of the truth. Well, well. So we part in utter ignorance of each other.”
Orson Scott Card (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think that a good person can sometimes do wrong out of ignorance or weakness or wrong thinking, but when hard times come, the goodness wins out after all. And a bad person can often seem good and trustworthy for a long time, but when hard times come, the evil in him gets revealed.”
Orson Scott Card (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The origin of all science is in the desire to know causes; and the origin of all false science and imposture is in the desire to accept false causes rather than none; or, which is the same thing, in the unwillingness to acknowledge our own ignorance.”
William Hazlitt (1778–1830) first seen 1829 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Burke and the Edinburgh Phrenologists in The Atlas (15 February 1829); reprinted in New Writings by William Hazlitt, William Hazlitt and Percival Presland Howe (ed.), (2nd edition, 1925), p. 117; also reprinted in The C…
“Prejudice is the child of ignorance…”
William Hazlitt (1778–1830) said by 1830 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[W]e ought not to reject the ancient Art, as if it were not, and had not been properly founded, because it did not attain accuracy in all things, but rather, since it is capable of reaching to the greatest exactitude by reasoning, to receive it and admire its discoveries, made from a state of great ignorance, and as having been well and properly made, and not from chance.”
Hippocrates (460–370 BC) said by 370 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Silence is the only answer you should give to the fools. Where ignorance speaks, intelligence should not give advices.”
Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Lazio Speeches (1936), as quoted in The Book of Italian Wisdom by Antonio Santi, Citadel Press, (2003) p. 87.
“The source of every Crime, is some defect of the Understanding; or some error in Reasoning, or some sudden force of the Passions. Defect in the Understanding, is Ignorance; in Reasoning, Erroneous Opinion.”
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) said by 1679 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hold back your mind from pride, for pride comes only from ignorance. The man who does not know thinks that he is great, that he has done this or that great thing; the wise man knows that only God is great, that all good work is done by God alone.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All the Buddhas of all the ages have been telling you a very simple fact: Be — don't try to become. Within these two words — being and becoming, your whole life is contained. Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.”
Rajneesh (1931–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no greater wealth than wisdom, no greater poverty than ignorance; no greater heritage than culture and no greater support than consultation.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One who imagines himself to be all-knowing will surely suffer on account of his ignorance.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no capital more useful than intellect and wisdom, and there is no indigence more injurious than ignorance and unawareness.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance. Where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor vexation. Where there is poverty and joy, there is neither greed nor avarice. Where there is peace and meditation, there is neither anxiety nor doubt.”
Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) said by 1226 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ignorance induces suspicion.”
Jack Vance (1916–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Paranoia is just another word for ignorance.”
Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If there is a devil in human history, that devil is the principle of command. It alone, sustained by the ignorance and stupidity of the masses, without which it could not exist, is the source of all the catastrophes, all the crimes, and all the infamies of history.”
Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876) first seen 1871 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Program of the Alliance" (1871), in Bakunin on Anarchy (1971), translated and edited by Sam Dolgoff
“Ignorance is fatal.”
Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Usher II (1950)
“War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. The Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tweet (12 December 2021), as cited in "JK Rowling condemns police guidance which lets rapists self-identify as women", The Telegraph (13 December 2021)
“Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I may say this is a deluded generation, veiled with ignorance, that tho popery and slavery be riding in upon them, do not perceive it; tho I am sure there was no man born marked of God above another, for none comes into the world with a saddle on his back, neither any booted and spurred to ride him.”
Richard Rumbold (1622–1685) first seen 1685 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech on the Scaffold", 1685
“Two Chinamen visiting Europe went to the theatre for the first time. One of them occupied himself with trying to understand the theatrical machinery, which he succeeded in doing. The other, despite his ignorance of the language, sought to unravel the meaning of the play. The former is like the astronomer, the latter the philosopher.”
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) said by 1860 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vol. 2 "On Various Subjects" as translated in Essays and Aphorisms (1970), as translated by R. J. Hollingdale
“Unfortunately, there is no legal protection against those who, either by design or ignorance, poison the minds of others by negative suggestion. This form of destruction should be punishable by heavy legal penalties, because it may and often does destroy one's chances of acquiring material things which are protected by law. p. 173”
Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My mum taught me how to read before I went to kindergarden, I always thought that being able to read provided lightness, help to dispel darkness, ignorance and stupidity.”
Michael Moore (born 1954) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview while promoting Capitalism : A Love Story (March 2010)
“They've been spending most their lives Living in a pastime paradise. They've been spending most their lives Living in a pastime paradise. They've been wasting most their time Glorifying days long gone behind, They've been wasting most their days In remembrance of ignorance oldest praise.”
Stevie Wonder (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source