For knowledge, too, is itself power.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Knowledge has, in our time, triumphed, and is triumphing, over prejudice and over bigotry. The civilized and Christian world is fast learning the great lesson, that difference of nation does not imply necessary hostility, and that all contact need not be war. The whole world is becoming a common field for intellect to act in. Energy of mind, genius, power, wheresoever it exists may speak out in any tongue, and the world will hear it.
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American Statesman, Lawyer
Knowledge must come through action; you can have no test which is not fanciful, save by trial.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
A wise man, when asked how he had learned so much about everything, replied: “By never being ashamed or afraid to ask questions about anything of which I was ignorant.”
—Unknown
Knowledge is a comfortable and necessary retreat and shelter for us in advanced age, and if we do not plant it while young, it will give us no shade when we grow old.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life.
Meaning doesn’t lie in things. Meaning lies in us. When we attach value to things that aren’t love – the money, the car, the house, the prestige – we are loving things that can’t love us back. We are searching for meaning in the meaningless. Money, of itself, means nothing. Material things, of themselves, mean nothing. It’s not that they’re bad. It’s that they’re nothing.
—Marianne Williamson (b.1952) American Activist, Author, Lecturer
Knowledge is knowing that we cannot know.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
He who knows little quickly tells it.
—Italian Proverb
You don’t know how much you know until you know how much you don’t know.
—Anonymous
The degree of one’s emotion varies inversely with one’s knowledge of the facts—the less you know the hotter you get.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
There is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little; and, therefore, men should remedy suspicion by procuring to know more, and not keep their suspicions in smother.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
It is wise to get knowledge and learning from every source—from a sot, a pot, a fool, a winter-mitten, or an old slipper.
—Francois Rabelais (1494–1553) French Humanist, Satirist
Know thyself is a good saying, but not in all situations. In many it is better to say “Know others.”
—Menander (c.343–c.291 BCE) Greek Comic Dramatist, Poet
To succeed in business, to reach the top, an individual must know all it is possible to know about that business.
—J. Paul Getty (1892–1976) American Business Person, Art Collector, Philanthropist
Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
That there should one man die ignorant who had capacity for knowledge, this I call a tragedy.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Ask someone else for advice but keep your knowledge to yourself.
—Hebrew Proverb
Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Essayist
One of the greatest joys known to man is to take a flight into ignorance in search of knowledge.
—Robert Wilson Lynd (1879–1949) Irish Essayist, Critic
A complacent satisfaction with present knowledge is the chief bar to the pursuit of knowledge.
—B. H. Liddell Hart (1895–1970) British Military Historian, Theorist
God is intelligent; but in what manner? Man is intelligent by the act of reasoning, but the supreme intelligence lies under no necessity to reason. He requires neither premise nor consequences; nor even the simple form of a proposition. His knowledge is purely intuitive. He beholds equally what is and what will be. All truths are to Him as one idea, as all places are but one point, and all times one moment.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
Knowledge is the treasure, but judgment is the treasurer of the one who is wise.
—William Penn (1644–1718) American Entrepreneur, Political leader, Philosopher
Knowledge of sin is the beginning of salvation.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Any piece of knowledge I acquire today has a value at this moment exactly proportional to my skill to deal with it. Tomorrow, when I know more, I recall that piece of knowledge and use it better.
—Mark Van Doren (1894–1972) American Poet, Writer, Critic
Open thy eyes and see what the world really is and what God; have done with vain and pleasant imaginations.
—Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian Mystic, Philosopher, Poet
Knowledge is the small part of ignorance that we arrange and classify.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
I see men ordinarily more eager to discover a reason for things than to find out whether the things are so.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Knowledge is not a couch whereon to rest a searching and restless spirit; or a terrace for a wandering mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect; or a tower of state for a proud mind to raise itself upon; or a sort of commanding ground for strife and contention; or a shop for profit and sale; but a rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator, and the relief of man’s estate.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
The mind’s direction is more important than its progress.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
Knowledge is the food of the soul.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
The desire of knowledge, like the thirst for riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
Familiarity breeds contempt; and children.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
A man comes into a bar, obviously nervous and obviously in a hurry, walks over to the counter, picks up an empty glass and starts eating it. When he is finished he goes over to the wall, walks up the wall, walks along the ceiling, walks down the other wall and disappears out the door.
The barkeeper can’t believe his eyes. What the hell, he says, is going on here?
A man who has been sitting on a bar stool and seen the whole thing, says with a shrug of his shoulders, Don’t worry, I know that guy. It’s always the same thing with him—comes and goes without even saying hello.
There are millions of people who are living like this. Miracles are happening all around but they can’t see anything, they are blind with their knowledge.
Drop your knowledge. Knowledge is worthless; wonder is precious. Regain the wonder that you had when you were a child—and the kingdom of God belongs only to those who are able to become children again.
—Sri Rajneesh (Osho) (1931–90) Indian Spiritual Teacher
There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.
—Edith Wharton (1862–1937) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
Oh how fine it is to know a thing or two!
—Moliere (1622–73) French Playwright
They that have read about everything are thought to understand everything too; but it is not always so. Reading furnishes the mind only with the materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours. We are of the ruminating kind, and it is not enough to cram ourselves with a great load of collections. Unless we chew them over again, they will not give us strength and nourishment.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
Repetition is the mother of knowledge.
—African Proverb
Never stop learning; knowledge doubles every fourteen months.
—Anthony J. D’Angelo
Many people think of knowledge as money, They would like knowledge, but do not want to face the perseverance and self-denial that goes into the acquisition of it.
—John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) British Political Leader, Writer, Editor, Journalist
Someone who knows too much finds it hard not to lie.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-born British Philosopher
We are here and it is now. Further than that all human knowledge is moonshine.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
A man can only attain knowledge with the help of those who possess it. This must be understood from the very beginning. One must learn from him who knows.
—Georges Gurdjieff (1877–1949) Armenian Spiritual Leader, Occultist
A taste of every sort of knowledge is necessary to form the mind, and is the only way to give the understanding its due improvement to the full extent of its capacity.
—John Locke (1632–1704) English Philosopher, Physician
I shall devote only a few lines to the expression of my belief in the importance of science … it is by this daily striving after knowledge that man has raised himself to the unique position he occupies on earth, and that his power and well-being have continually increased.
—Marie Curie (1867–1934) Polish-born French Physicist, Chemist
Learn as though you would never be able to master it; hold it as though you would be in fear of losing it.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
If your knowledge of fire has been turned to certainty by words alone, then seek to be cooked by the fire itself. Don’t abide in borrowed certainty. There is no real certainty until you burn; if you wish for this, sit down in the fire.
—Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207–73) Persian Muslim Mystic