Quotes About Ignorance

I am wiser than that fellow, anyhow. Because neither of us, I dare say, knows anything of great value; but he thinks he knows a thing when he doesn't; whereas I neither know it in fact, nor think that I do. At any rate, it appears that I am wiser than he in just this one small respect: if I do not know something, I do not think that I do.

Then, when the rhetorician is more persuasive than the physician, the ignorant is more persuasive with the ignorant than he who has knowledge?—is not that the inference?

Although I do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than he is,--for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know. (Socrates)

Porque temer la muerte, atenienses, no es otra cosa que creerse sabio sin serlo, y creer conocer lo que no se sabe. En efecto, nadie conoce la muerte, ni sabe si es el mayor de los bienes para el hombre. Sin embargo, se la teme, como si se 68 supiese con certeza que es el mayor de todos los males.

En efecto, atenienses, temer la muerte no es otra cosa que creer ser sabio sin serlo, pues es creer que uno sabe lo que no sabe. Pues nadie conoce la muerte, ni siquiera si es, precisamente, el mayor de todos los bienes para el hombre, pero la temen como si supieran con certeza que es el mayor de los males.

Ich weiß, dass ich nicht weiß".

And the same will be true of the orator and the oratory in relation to all other arts. The orator need have no knowledge of the truth about thongs; it is enough for him to have discovered a knack of persuading the ignorant that he seems to know more than the experts.

Self-love is the source of that ignorant conceit of knowledge which is always doing and never succeeding.

for the uneducated, when they engage in argument about anything, give no thought to the truth about the subject of discussion but are only eager that those present will accept the position they have set forth.

Herein is the evil of ignorance , that he who is neither good nor wise is nevertheless satisfied with himself : he has no desire for that of which he feels no want .

cuenta Estesí­coro que, por ignorancia de la verdad, se luchó ante Troya en torno a la apariencia de Helena?

there is simple ignorance, which is the source of lighter offences, and double ignorance, which is accompanied by a conceit of wisdom; and he who is under the influence of the latter fancies that he knows all about matters of which he knows nothing.

quien durante tanto tiempo se ha ocupado de estos asuntos pueda exponerlas opiniones de los demás, pero no las suyas. -¿Pues qué? -dije yo-. ¿Te parece bien que hable uno de las cosas que no sabe como si las supiese?

I am wiser than this man, for neither of us appears to know anything great and good; but he fancies he knows something, although he knows nothing; whereas I, as I do not know anything, so I do not fancy I do. In this trifling particular, then, I appear to be wiser than he, because I do not fancy I know what I do not know.

Porque temer la muerte, atenienses, no es otra cosa que creerse sabio sin serlo, y creer conocer lo que no se sabe. En efecto, nadie conoce la muerte, ni sabe si es el mayor de los bienes para el hombre. Sin embargo, se la teme, como si se supiese con certeza que es el mayor de todos los males. ¡Ah! ¿No es una ignorancia vergonzante creer conocer una cosa que no se conoce?

And surely it is the most blameworthy [b]ignorance to believe that one knows what one does not know.

When a person supposes that he knows, and does not know; this appears to be the great source of all the errors of the intellect.

Las opiniones buenas no son las de los sabios, y las malas las de los necios?

él cree saberlo aunque no sepa nada, y yo, no sabiendo nada, creo no saber.

Hay en un Estado señal más segura de una mala y viciosa educación que la necesidad de médicos y de jueces hábiles no sólo para los artesanos y pueblo bajo, sino también para los que se precian de haber sido educados como hombres libres? ¿No es cosa vergonzosa y una prueba insigne de ignorancia el verse forzado a acudir a una justicia extraña por no ser uno mismo justo, y el convertir a los demás en dueños y jueces de su derecho?

I know that I know nothing

While I, just as I do not know, do not even suppose that I do. I am likely to be a little bit wiser than he in this very thing: that whatever I do not know, I do not even suppose I know.

I was hoping that you would instruct me in the nature of piety and impiety; and then I might have cleared myself of Meletus and his indictment. I would have told him that I had been enlightened by Euthyphro, and had given up rash innovations and speculations, in which I indulged only through ignorance, and that now I am about to lead a better life.

What I do not know, I don't think I do.