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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Ignorance28 quotes
I know that I do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCBehold! human beings living in an underground den... Like ourselves... They see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave. — Socrates · 375 BCNone so blind as those that will not see. — Matthew Henry · 1706A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again. — Alexander Pope · 1711To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCAt every step the natural light which illuminates their path grows dimmer and less secure; and that, in spite of all their efforts, they have as yet only discovered a small number of conflicting notions, on which the mind of man has been tossed about for thousands of years, without either laying a firmer grasp on truth, or finding novelty even in its errors. — Alexis de Tocqueville · 1840All 28 quotes →Willful ignorance3 quotes
None so blind as those that will not see. — Matthew Henry · 1706There’s none so blind as they that won’t see. — Jonathan Swift · 1738It is worse still to be ignorant of your ignorance. — St. Jerome · 394Blindness2 quotes
None so blind as those that will not see. — Matthew Henry · 1706There’s none so blind as they that won’t see. — Jonathan Swift · 1738Education2 quotes
Behold! human beings living in an underground den... Like ourselves... They see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave. — Socrates · 375 BCA little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again. — Alexander Pope · 1711History2 quotes
At every step the natural light which illuminates their path grows dimmer and less secure; and that, in spite of all their efforts, they have as yet only discovered a small number of conflicting notions, on which the mind of man has been tossed about for thousands of years, without either laying a firmer grasp on truth, or finding novelty even in its errors. — Alexis de Tocqueville · 1840To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to be ever a child. — Cicero · 46 BCIgnorance is bliss2 quotes
The happiest life consists in ignorance. — Sophocles · 442 BCIgnorance is bliss. — Cypher · 1999Ignorance of history2 quotes
At every step the natural light which illuminates their path grows dimmer and less secure; and that, in spite of all their efforts, they have as yet only discovered a small number of conflicting notions, on which the mind of man has been tossed about for thousands of years, without either laying a firmer grasp on truth, or finding novelty even in its errors. — Alexis de Tocqueville · 1840To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to be ever a child. — Cicero · 46 BCIntellectual humility2 quotes
I know that I do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCThe first and wisest of them all professed
To know this only, that he nothing knew. — John Milton · 1671Knowledge2 quotes
To know anything well involves a profound sensation of ignorance. — John Ruskin · 1856It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing. — Seneca · 65The unknown2 quotes
To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCMen blaspheme what they do not know. — Blaise Pascal · 1662Wisdom2 quotes
The first and wisest of them all professed
To know this only, that he nothing knew. — John Milton · 1671To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge. — Benjamin Disraeli · 1845Blasphemy1 quote
Men blaspheme what they do not know. — Blaise Pascal · 1662Certainty1 quote
I know that I do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCClosed-mindedness1 quote
The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism. — William Osler · 1902Conspiracy theories1 quote
There is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little. — Francis Bacon · 1625Death1 quote
To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCDogma1 quote
The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism. — William Osler · 1902Downsides of education1 quote
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again. — Alexander Pope · 1711Enlightenment1 quote
A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he'll never crow. I have seen the light and I'm crowing. — Muhammad Ali · 1964Epistemology1 quote
To know anything well involves a profound sensation of ignorance. — John Ruskin · 1856Erroneous beliefs1 quote
Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong. — Thomas Jefferson · 1785Fear of death1 quote
To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCHappiness1 quote
The happiest life consists in ignorance. — Sophocles · 442 BCHuman nature1 quote
Mankind was not evil, just...uninformed. — Professor Charles Xavier · 2000Idiocracy1 quote
To learning & law, there's no greater foe than they that nothing know. — Robert Greene · 1592Informed citizenry1 quote
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. — Thomas Jefferson · 1816Learning from the past1 quote
At every step the natural light which illuminates their path grows dimmer and less secure; and that, in spite of all their efforts, they have as yet only discovered a small number of conflicting notions, on which the mind of man has been tossed about for thousands of years, without either laying a firmer grasp on truth, or finding novelty even in its errors. — Alexis de Tocqueville · 1840Nature of life1 quote
Life is one long struggle in the dark. — Lucretius · 55 BCPeople are basically good1 quote
All men have in themselves that which is truly honorable. Only they do not think of it. — Mencius · 300 BCScience1 quote
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 · 1871