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Knowledge

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“We smile at the ignorance of the savage who cuts down the tree in order to reach its fruit; but the same blunder is made by every person who is overeager and impatient in the pursuit of pleasure.”
William Ellery Channing (misattributed) first seen 1782 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Philip Nicholas Shuttleworth (1782–1842), bishop of Chichester, in an address "Christ's Yoke Easy and Burden Light", published in The Sunday Library; or, The Protestant's Manual for the Sabbath-day (1831) by Thomas Frog…
“Libraries ... will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation of well-informed men, who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them, cannot be enslaved. It is in the regions of ignorance that tyranny reigns.”
Benjamin Franklin (misattributed) first seen 1793 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Written by Henry Stuber as part of a biographical sketch of Franklin appended to a 1793 edition of Franklin's autobiography and sometimes reprinted with it in the 19th century. It is frequently misattributed to Franklin…
“It is only in order to shield your ignorance that you put the Lord at every turn to the refuge of a miracle.”
Galileo Galilei (misattributed) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Giorgio de Santillana attributed this remark to the Dialogue in The Crime of Galileo (1955), but it does not appear there. A vaguely similar exchange appears in the Fourth Day of the Dialogue, when Salviati asks Simplic…
“The more we study, we the more discover / Our ignorance.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley (misattributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Books are “imaginative rehearsals for living,” stated novelist George Santayana. They are also a great equalizer in a diverse society. Book reading helps prepare a child for mental liberation from ignorance, fear, and falsehood.”
George Santayana (misattributed) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The lockdown’s lesson in reading books aloud, Christian Science Monitor (22 June 2020)
“The role of reason is not to make us wise but to reveal our ignorance”
David Hume (misattributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance — that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”
Herbert Spencer (misattributed) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Commonly attributed to Spencer, information provided in The Quote Verifier: Who Said What, Where, and When (2006) by Ralph Keyes and The Survival of a Fitting Quotation. (2005) by Michael StGeorge, indicates the attribu…
“Through ignorance, sloth and folly, Though He stands by us, we are shut off from Him, The noise of thunder makes the head of the thirsty ache, When he knows not that it unlocks the blessed showers, His eyes are fixed on the running stream Unwitting of the sweetness of the rain from heaven; He urges the steed of his desire towards the caused, And perforce remains shut off from the causer.”
Rumi (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil.”
Plato (disputed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lawyers are the only persons in whom ignorance of the law is not punished.”
Jeremy Bentham (disputed) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed to Bentham in The Dictionary of Humorous Quotations‎ (1949) by Evan Esar, p. 29; no earlier sources for this have been located.
“Behind every argument is someone's ignorance.”
Louis Brandeis (attributed) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Irving Dilliard, Mr. Justice Brandeis, Great American (1941), p. 112.
“Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.”
Aristophanes (misattributed) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fictional attribution in the movie The Emperor's Club (2002), given by Kevin Kline (as William Hundert); also attributed to Diogenes, without sources; no published occurrences of this statement prior to the movie have b…
“The more one endeavors to sound the depths of his ignorance the deeper the chasm appears.”
Amos Bronson Alcott (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It doesn’t mean I’m purer and nicer than others. But it means I have too much ignorance and mental defilement to remove. I need Buddha's wisdom.”
Richard Gombrich (misattributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fear is the lengthened shadow of ignorance.”
Arnold Glasow (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I do not believe in virtue, but I do believe in innocence. They are very different. Innocence is ignorance.”
Delphine de Girardin (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not easy to be a widow: one must reassume all the modesty of girlhood, without being allowed to even feign its ignorance.”
Delphine de Girardin (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Much of our ignorance is of ourselves. Our eyes are full of dust. Prejudice blinds us.”
Abraham Coles (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Eldredge and Gould and their many colleagues tend to codify an incredible ignorance of where the real action is in evolution, as they limit the domain of interest to animals... very tardy on the evolutionary scene, and they give us little real insight into the major sources of evolution's creativity.”
Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lynn Margulis, The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution ed. John Brockman (1995)
“I have found that many people use arrogance to try to hide their own ignorance.”
Robert Kiyosaki (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The common curse of mankind,--folly and ignorance.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) said by 1616 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“For "ignorance is the mother of devotion," as all the world knows.”
Robert Burton (1577–1640) said by 1640 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Ignorance of the law excuses no man; not that all men know the law, but because 't is an excuse every man will plead, and no man can tell how to refute him.”
John Selden (1584–1654) said by 1654 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“To each his suff'rings; all are men, Condemn'd alike to groan,-- The tender for another's pain, Th' unfeeling for his own. Yet ah! why should they know their fate, Since sorrow never comes too late, And happiness too swiftly flies? Thought would destroy their paradise. No more; where ignorance is bliss, 'T is folly to be wise.”
Thomas Gray (1716–1771) said by 1771 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“I remember, I remember The fir-trees dark and high; I used to think their slender tops Were close against the sky; It was a childish ignorance, But now 't is little joy To know I 'm farther off from heaven Than when I was a boy.”
Thomas Hood (1799–1845) said by 1845 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Mr. Kremlin was distinguished for ignorance; for he had only one idea, and that was wrong.”
Benjamin Disraeli (earl Beaconsfield) bartlett, Public domain source
“Ignorance of one's misfortunes is clear gain.”
Euripides (481–407 BC) said by 407 BC at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Ignorance plays the chief part among men, and the multitude of words; but opportunity will prevail.”
Tertullian (160–240) said by 240 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Every man of learning wishes, that his son may be learned; and that not so much from a view to pecuniary advantage, as from a desire to have him supplied with the means of useful instruction and liberal amusement.”
James Beattie (1735–1803) first seen 1769 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks on the Utility of Classical Learning" (written in 1769), published in Essays, Vol. II (1776), p. 524.
“My father was teaching me his trade. I was his son and he was showing me how to write the way his own father from Torricella Peligna had shown him, as a boy, how to work a wall of stone or lay a row of brick. I was learning how to build books. Watching a master at work. Those would be the most important days of my life.”
John Fante (1909–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dan Fante, about his late father John Fante. From the Introduction (December 2003) by Dan Fante to The Bandini Quartet by John Fante (the four 'Arturo Bandini' novels in one volume, published by Canongate Books Ltd.).
Also quoted by: Dan Fante
“Ye fetted pinnacles, ye fanes sublime, Ye towers that wear the mossy vest of time; Ye massy piles of old munificence, At once the pride of learning and defence; Ye cloisters pale, that, lengthening to the sight, To contemplation, step by step, invite; Ye temples dim, where pious duty pays Her holy hymns of everlasting praise - Hail ! Oxford, hail !”
Thomas Warton (1728–1790) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Triumph of Isis" (1749).
“I dare aver He is a brave discoverer Of climes his elders do not know. He has more learning than appears On the scroll of twice three thousand years.”
Edmund Clarence Stedman (1833–1908) said by 1908 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the history of education, the most striking phenomenon is that schools of learning, which at one epoch are alive with a ferment of genius, in a succeeding generation exhibit merely pedantry and routine.”
Ted Sizer (1932–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thus have I sorrowed, Learning to my cost That a book that's borrowed Is a book that's lost!”
Arthur Guiterman (1871–1943) first seen 1930 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Also in The New York Times (June 28, 1930) p. 14, col. 7 (with "Much" not "Thus")
“It is no small mischief to a boy, that many of the best years of his life should be devoted to the learning of what can never be of any real use to any human being. His mind is necessarily rendered frivolous and superficial by the long habit of attaching importance to words instead of things; to sound instead of sense.”
William Cobbett (1763–1835) first seen 1817 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Mr. Benbow,” Political Register (29 November 1817)
“I do think the idea that basic cooking skills are a virtue, that the ability to feed yourself and a few others with proficiency should be taught to every young man and woman as a fundamental skill, should become as vital to growing up as learning to wipe one's own ass, cross the street by oneself, or be trusted with money.”
Anthony Bourdain (1956–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It’s not about being fearless. It’s about learning how to move through fear.”
Michelle Obama (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nature knows no tragedies or catastrophes. It knows no good or evil. It knows only creation and destruction. and one can never truly be happy and free, in the way we were as children before learning of our mortality, without at some point confronting our destruction. And all we can ask for, all we can hope for, all we can beseech God for, is to win a few battles in a war we will ultimately lose.”
Neil Strauss (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am of the firm belief that everybody could write books and I never understand why they don't. After all, everyone speaks. Once the grammar has been learnt it is simply talking on paper and in time learning what not to say.”
Beryl Bainbridge (1932–2010) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: James Vinson & D. L. Kirkpatrick (eds.), Contemporary Novelists, 2nd edition, (London: St. James Press, 1976).
“I really think that reading is just as important as writing when you're trying to be a writer. Because it's the only apprenticeship we have. It's the only way of learning how to write a story.”
John Green (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Listen," she said. "I get off in an hour. Sit in the back. I'll see you then." As though they'd agreed to this a long time ago. That was the sign, he was as yet unused to noticing it but he was learning: that sensation that the future has already happened and is only bringing itself about in staging these present moments.”
John Crowley (1942–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mary: You can read? Pocket: I was raised in a nunnery, wench. I'm a walking library of learning bound in comely leather, suitable for stroking at your service, should you fancy a bit of culture to go with your lack of breeding...or vice verse of course.”
Christopher Moore (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For wide learning and deep insight his judgments are, perhaps, unsurpassed.”
George Jessel (jurist) first seen 1883 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Apsley Petre Peter, Analysis and Digest of the Decisions of Sir George Jessel (1883).
“School was strange, rather amusing - with a teacher standing at the front telling you what to write. The camaraderie was interesting. I tend to remember the things you can't recreate on your own - queuing up for your dinner, learning team games, which were a complete mystery to me. I remember having to pretend I knew how to play hockey, that kind of thing." The Mail on Sunday - 06/02/2000”
Joanna MacGregor (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A unified theory of cognition is a single set of mechanisms that cover all of cognition—problem solving, decision making, routine action, memory, learning, skill, perception, and motor behavior.”
Allen Newell (1927–1992) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Unified Theories of Cognition (1990), Harvard University Press, p. 15.
“The result of the mathematician's creative work is demonstrative reasoning, a proof; but the proof is discovered by plausible reasoning, by guessing. If the learning of mathematics reflects to any degree the invention of mathematics, it must have a place for guessing, for plausible inference.”
George Pólya (1887–1985) said by 1985 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was like beginning life anew without the vigor and enthusiasm of youth, like learning to become left-handed in old age.”
Chinua Achebe (1930–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On a deeper level, if our sons are learning they are obscene, disgusting, and untrustworthy, is this the best preparation for fatherhood? And is it the best preparation for becoming a mother -- to feel this way about her son?”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Preserving the best of traditional masculinity should be a priority of parents because your son is preoccupied with the paradox of learning how to simultaneously fit in and stand out.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Traditional men make their sacrifices in significant measure in the hopes of being appreciated when they come home, and having their learning experiences integrated into their homes.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source