best quotations about
Ignorance |
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Quotations
 | Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. — H.L. Mencken, 1880-1956, American columnist & cultural critic 23 likes |
 | Uncertainty that comes from knowledge (knowing what you don't know) is different from uncertainty coming from ignorance. — Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992, American Sci-Fi writer 20 likes |
 | Nothing is more frightful than to see ignorance in action. — Wolfgang Goethe, 1749-1832, German poet & philosopher 17 likes |
 | Doctors are men who prescribe medicine of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, for human beings of which they know nothing. — Voltaire, 1694-1778, French philosopher & writer 13 likes |
 | He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career. — George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish writer, Nobel 1925 13 likes |
 | Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science. — Charles Darwin, 1809-1882, British scientist 12 likes |
 | Sixty years ago I knew everything. Now I know nothing. Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. — Will Durant, 1885-1981, American historian & philosopher 11 likes |
 | We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever. — Carl Sagan, 1934-1996, American astronomer 8 likes |
 | A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance. — Anatole France, 1844-1924, French writer, Nobel 1921 8 likes |
 | Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference which is an elegant name for ignorance. — G. K. Chesterton, 1874-1936, English writer & critic 7 likes |
 | The only thing that is more expensive than education is ignorance. — Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790, American politician & writer 7 likes |
 | Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance is the death of knowledge. — Alfred North Whitehead, 1861-1947, British philosopher & mathematician 7 likes |
 | We journalists make it a point to know very little about an extremely wide variety of topics; this is how we stay objective. — Dave Barry, 1947-, American journalist 7 likes |
| We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology. — Carl Sagan, 1934-1996, American astronomer 6 likes |
 | Science is the topography of ignorance. — Oliver W. Holmes Sr., 1809-1894, American writer 5 likes |
 | We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything. — Thomas Edison, 1847-1934, American inventor 5 likes |
 | The little I know, I owe to my ignorance. — Sacha Guitry, 1885-1957, French writer 5 likes |
 | He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors. — Thomas Jefferson, 1749-1826, American President [1801-1809] 5 likes |
 | Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know. — Michel de Montaigne, 1533-1592, French thinker 4 likes |
 | I’m a scientific expert; that means I know nothing about absolutely everything — Arthur Clarke, 1917-2008, British Sci-Fi writer 4 likes |
 | Every uneducated person is a caricature of himself. — Friedrich von Schlegel, 1772-1829, German writer 4 likes |
 | Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything. — Sydney Smith, 1771-1845, British writer & cleric 4 likes |
 | The ordinary man looking at a mountain is like an illiterate person confronted with a Greek manuscript. — Aleister Crowley, 1875-1945, British magician & occultist, 4 likes |
 | Zeal without knowledge is fire without light. — Dr. Thomas Fuller, 1654-1734, English physician and adage collector 4 likes |
 | It's innocence when it charms us, ignorance when it doesn't. — Mignon McLaughlin, 1913-1983, American magazine editor 3 likes |
 | It is characteristic of the unlearned that they are forever proposing something which is old, and because it has recently come to their own attention, supposing it to be new. — Calvin Coolidge, 1872-1933, American President [1923-1929] 3 likes |
 | Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star. — Confucius, 551-479 BC, Chinese teacher & philosopher 3 likes |
 | Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance. — Lyndon Johnson, 1908-1973, American President [1963-1969] 3 likes |
| It was the mark of a barbarian to destroy something one could not understand. — Arthur Clarke, 1917-2008, British Sci-Fi writer 3 likes |
 | I have tried to know absolutely nothing about a great many things, and I have succeeded fairly well. — Robert Benchley, 1889-1945, American columnist 3 likes |
 | There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1884, American philosopher 2 likes |
 | But, for my own part, it was Greek to me. — William Shakespeare, 1564-1616, English poet & playwright ‐ Julius Caesar 2 likes |
 | If the butterfly wings its way to the sweet light that attracts it, it's only because it doesn't know that the fire can consume it. |
 | Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education. |
 | There is an illiteracy of the soul which no diploma cures. |
 | It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance. |
| It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of our own ignorance. |
 | People seem to think that if you keep your head empty you automatically fill your balls. |
 | Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times. |
 | Every moment of happiness requires a great amount of Ignorance. |
 | He was impregnably armored by his good intentions and his ignorance. |
 | There goes a woman who knows all the things that can be taught and none of the things that cannot be taught. |
 | 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. |
 | They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. |
 | Learn to say “I don't know”. If used when appropriate, it will be often. |
 | The life of an uneducated man is as useless as the tail of a dog which neither covers its rear end, nor protects it from the bites of insects. |
 | How it is we have so much information, but know so little? — Noam Chomsky, 1928-, American linguist, philosopher, social activist |
| Education is a system of imposed ignorance. — Noam Chomsky, 1928-, American linguist, philosopher, social activist |
 | The ignorance of how to use knowledge stockpiles exponentially. — Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1980, Canadian academic & media theorist |
 | To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it. |
 | Ignorance, if carefully maintained, has at least the advantage of protecting the beneficiary from errors. |
 | In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance. |
| What you don't know would make a great book. |
 | Of all the frictional resistances, the one that most retards human movement is ignorance. |
 | A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep. — Saul Bellow, 1914-2005, Canadian-American writer, Nobel 1976 |
 | The reason there’s so much ignorance is that those who have it are so eager to share it. |
 | Half the world does not know how the other half lives. |
 | It’s extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut, with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it’s just as well; and it may be that it is this very dullness that makes life to the incalculable majority so supportable and so welcome. |
Latin Quotes
 | Everything unknown seems magnificent. Omne ignotum pro magnifico. — Tacitus, 55-120 AD, Roman historian 83 likes |
Ancient Greek
 | There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance. Εν μόνον αγαθόν είναι, την επιστήμην, και εν μόνον κακόν, την αμαθίαν. — Socrates, 469-399 BC, Ancient Geek Philosopher 106 likes |
| I know that I know nothing. Εν οίδα ότι ουδέν οίδα. — Socrates, 469-399 BC, Ancient Geek Philosopher ( the “Socratic paradox”; from a Latin quote which was a paraphrase of a Plato’s line and not a real saying by Socrates) 58 likes |
 | We know nothing for sure. Because the truth is hidden in the deep. Ετεή δε ουδέν ίδμεν. Εν βυθώ γαρ η αλήθεια. — Democritus, 470-370 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 22 likes |
 | Ignorance is bold, knowledge is reserved. Αμαθία μεν θράσος, λογισμός δε όκνον φέρει. — Thucydides, 460-394 BC, Ancient Greek historian 12 likes |
 | The “I don’t know” will not put me in prison. Το ουκ οίδα εις φυλακήν ου βάλλει. — Aesop, 620-560 BC, Ancient Greek fabulist 7 likes |
 | Wisdom is the best of all things, ignorance is the worst. Σοφία πάντων κάλλιστον, η δε αμάθεια πάντων κάκιστον. — Plato, 427-347 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 7 likes |
 | Let no one untrained in geometry enter. Αγεωμέτρητος μηδείς εισίτω. — Motto over the entrance to Plato's Academy 6 likes |
| The cause of error is ignorance of what is better. Αμαρτίης αιτίη η αμαθίη του κρέσσονος. — Democritus, 470-370 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 5 likes |
 | It is better to conceal ignorance than to expose it. Κρύπτειν αμαθίην κρέσσον, ή ες το μέσον φέρειν. — Heraclitus, 544-484 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 5 likes |
| Now, we do not know really what is and what is not. Ετεή μεν νυν ότι οίον έκαστον εστιν ή ούκ έστιν ού συνίεμεν. — Democritus, 470-370 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 4 likes |
| Democritus said that the noble, uneducated people are like alabaster vases filled with vinegar. Δημόκριτος τους ευπρεπείς και απαιδεύτους ομοίους είπεν είναι αλαβάστρω γέμοντι όξος. — Democritus, 470-370 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 4 likes |
 | You know not why you live, or what you do, or who you are. Ουκ οίσθ’ ό,τι ζης, ουδ’ ό δρας, ουδ’ όστις εί. — Euripides, 480-406 BC, Ancient Greek tragedian ‐ Bacchae 2 likes |
| Ignorance has some kind of sweetness. Το μη ειδέναι γαρ ηδονήν έχει τινά. — Euripides, 480-406 BC, Ancient Greek tragedian ‐ Antiope 2 likes |
Proverbs
 | What you don’t know won’t hurt you. 4 likes |
Special Quotes
| Don’t die of ignorance. — Slogan of the British health awareness campaign against AIDS, 1987 2 likes |
