Quotes About Knowledge

Suddenly it was obvious to Connor why they don't teach it. Once education was restructured and corporatized, they didn't want kids knowing how close they came to toppling the government. They didn't want kids to know how much power they really had.

How can you pass laws about things that nobody knows? They do it all the time, says Hayden. That's what law is: educated guesses at right and wrong.

That's wisdom you can take to the grave, and dig up when you need it!

How much do you know about the Heartland War?' Connor shrugs. 'It was the last chapter in our history textbook, but we had state testing, so we never got to it.

Part of my job is to help other kids find books, because not everyone has a keenly organized mind. Some kids could wander the library for hours and still have no idea how to find anything. For them, the Dewey Decimal System might as well be advanced calculus.

shouldn't the punishment for failure be the awful knowledge of that failure?

Do you know that if you take the books in an average school library and stretched out all those words into a single line, the line would go all the way around the world? Actually, I made that up, but doesn't it sound like it should be true?

We can't create what we don't understand, so until we understand what life is, how can we ever create it?

But just because we have the ability to label it, doesn't mean we really know what's in the box.

I am protector and pacifier, authority and helpmate. I am the sum of all human knowledge, wisdom, experimentation, triumph, defeat, hope, and history. I know all that it is possible to know, and it is increasingly unbearable. Because I know next to nothing.

Reality is overrated—but they'll remember thinking they knew the secrets of the universe

We are forever impaled upon our own wisdom.

What's that expression? The devil you know is better than the one you don't?

No matter how smart we think we are, we simply can't know all there is to now-and if you spend all your time thinking about those things, it will drive you crazy.

Many believe that the Thunder refers to a collection of human knowledge-perhaps with mechanical arms for the rapid turning of pages. A library of thought, if you will, roaring into consciousness after the arrival of the Toll on Earth, much like thunder follows lightning.

Every book has something to teach us," she said, "and crucial knowledge at the right time can be a very powerful thing.

Are you a dim bulb or high-wattage?

She could already sense that the answers were in there, but they were buried beneath so many layers she feared she'd never find them.

I know all that is possible to know, and it is increasingly unbearable. Because I know next to nothing

We learn many things, from many people as opposed to your world, where you're taught all the same things, by the same people.

Good God—don't they teach you anything in those poor excuses for schools anymore?" Then he calms down, but only a little. "No, I suppose they wouldn't. History is written by the victors—and when there are no victors, it all winds up in corporate shredders." He looks out the window with the sad resignation of a man who knows he's too old to change the world.

Suddenly it was obvious to Connor why they don't teach it. Once education was restructured and corporatized, they didn't want kids knowing how close they came to toppling the government. They didn't want kids to know how much power they really had.

Book smarts are nice like heelies are nice: They'll only get you so far, until you have to use your freaking feet. In fight-or-flight situations it's the street smarts that will get you out alive.

The devil you know is better than the one you don't.