I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance. Socrates
cf.
I know that I am intelligent because I know that I know nothing. Socrates
cf.
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. Socrates
Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making. John Milton, Areopagitica, 1644
Not to know me argues yourselves unknown,
The lowest of your throng. John Milton, Paradise Lost IV:830
The first and wisest of them all professed
To know this only, that he nothing knew. John Milton, Paradise Regained 4:293
Owl hasn’t exactly got Brain, but he Knows Things. A A Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh, 1926
O fret not after knowledge – I have none,
And yet my song comes native with the warmth.
O fret not after knowledge – I have none,
And yet the Evening listens. John Keats
It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. Mark Twain
Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge. Mark Twain
You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know. Oscar Wilde
The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing. Oscar Wilde
Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. Oscar Wilde
For also knowledge itself is power. Francis Bacon, Meditationes Sacae
I have taken all knowledge to be my province. Francis Bacon, To My Lord Treasurer Burghley, 1592
To explain all Nature is too difficult a task for any one man or even for any one Age. Tis much better to do a little with certainty and leave the rest for others that come after you than to explain all things by conjecture without making sure of anything. Isaac Newton
I thus learnt my first great lesson in the inquiry into these obscure fields of knowledge, never to accept the disbelief of great men or their accusations of imposture or of imbecility, as of any weight when opposed to the repeated observation of facts by other men, admittedly sane and honest. The whole history of science shows us that whenever the educated and scientific men of any age have denied the facts of other investigators on a priori grounds of absurdity or impossibility, the deniers have always been wrong. Alfred Russel Wallace, 1893
Grace is given of God, but knowledge is bought in the market. Arthur Hugh Clough, The Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich, 1848
Know Thyself. Inscription over Temple of Apollo at Delphi
Apart from the known and the unknown, what else is there? Harold Pinter
The first step towards knowledge is to know that we are ignorant. Richard Cecil
The two operations of our understanding – intuition and deduction – on which alone we have said we must rely on the acquisition of knowledge. Rene Descartes
Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification. Martin Fischer
The dumbest people I know are those who know it all. Malcolm Forbes
Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it. Samuel Johnson
Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. Samuel Johnson, The History of Rasselas
So it is in travelling; a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge. Samuel Johnson
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. Stephen Hawking
Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge. Stephen Hawking
The great end of life is not knowledge but action. Thomas H Huxley
If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger? Thomas H Huxley, Collected Essays
There once was a man who said though
It seems that I know that I know.
But what I’d like to see
Is the I that knows me
When I know that I know that I know. Alan Watts
One of the charges at the time of course was that in some way I must have known because I had been the chancellor, because I had been the foreign secretary, because I had been the prime minister. And therefore I must have known what was going on, but I didn’t. John Major, response to Scott Inquiry into Arms Sales to Iraq
Everything I’ve ever needed to know I learned through sports. Sarah Palin
Shakespeare would have grasped wave functions, Donne would have understood complementarity and relative time. They would have been excited. What richness! They would have plundered this new science for their imagery. And they would have educated their audiences too. But you ‘arts’ people, you’re not only ignorant of these magnificent things, you’re rather proud of knowing nothing. Ian McEwan, The Child in Time 1987
You seek for knowledge and wisdom as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Letter 4
It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn. ibid. ch4
Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow. ibid. p38
We refuse to let our knowledge, however limited, be informed by your ignorance, however vast. David Ray Griffin
It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen. Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Poet at the Breakfast Table, 1872
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination embraces the entire world. Albert Einstein, interview The Saturday Evening Post 1929
Information is not knowledge. Albert Einstein
As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it. Albert Einstein
Any fool can know. The point is to understand. Albert Einstein, attributions & variations
The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the library. Albert Einstein
The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth. John F Kennedy