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Ignorance Quotes

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Ignorance Quotes

“When we mistake what we can know for all there is to know, a healthy appreciation of one's ignorance in the face of a mystery like soil fertility gives way to the hubris that we can treat nature as a machine. Once that leap has been made, one input follows another, so that when the synthetic nitrogen fed to plants makes them more attractive to insects and vulnerable to disease, as we have discovered, the farmer turns to chemical pesticides to fix his broken machine.”

KnowsWayGivingHas BeensMadeFacesTurnsMistakeMysteryLandIgnoranceBrokenHealthyDiseaseMachinesTreatsPlantAppreciationVulnerableAttractiveSoilFedsLeapChemicalsFarmersInsectsInputHubrisFertilitySyntheticPesticidesNitrogen
Author:Michael Pollan
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“The first principle, when you don't know anything about the subject of a thesis, is to let the candidate talk, nodding now and then with an ambiguous smile. He thinks you know, and are counting his mistakes, and it unnerves him... the second principle of conducting an oral, ... is to pretend ignorance, and ask for explanations of very simple points. Of course your ignorance is real, but the examinee thinks you are being subtle, and that he is making an ass of himself, and this rattles him.”

ThinkingKnowsFirstsRealCoursesAsksSimpleMistakePrinciplesSubjectsIgnoranceAssExplanationCandidatesSubtleNow And ThenCountingAmbiguousConductingThesisNodding
Author:Robertson Davies
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“Dreams ought to produce no conviction whatever on philosophical minds. If we consider how many dreams are dreamt every night, and how many events occur every day, we shall no longer wonder at those accidental coincidences which ignorance mistakes for verifications.”

IfsMindDreamNightMistakeWonderEventsProduceIgnoranceOughtPhilosophicalConvictionEvery NightCoincidenceVerification
Book:Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think
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“Incredulity is not wisdom, but the worst kind of folly. It is folly, because it causes ignorance and mistake, with all the consequents of these; and it is very bad, as being accompanied with disingenuity, obstinacy, rudeness, uncharitableness, and the like bad dispositions; from which credulity itself, the other extreme sort of folly, is exempt.”

KindCausesMistakeWorstIgnoranceExtremesFollyDispositionCredulityRudenessObstinacyIncredulity
Book:The works of Isaac Barrow
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“Let us consider how great a commodity of doctrine exists in books; how easily, how secretly, how safely they expose the nakedness of human ignorance without putting it to shame. These are the masters who instruct us without rods and ferules, without hard words and anger, without clothes or money. If you approach them, they are not asleep; if investigating you interrogate them, they conceal nothing; if you mistake them, they never grumble; if you are ignorant, they cannot laugh at you.”

IfsHumansBookHardMistakeLaughingIgnoranceMastersApproachClothesShameDoctrineIgnorantInstructionCommodityInvestigatingHard Words
Book:Philobiblon: A Treatise on the Love of Books
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“You're afraid of making mistakes. Don't be. Mistakes can be profited by. Man, when I was young I shoved my ignorance in people's faces. They beat me with sticks. By the time I was forty my blunt instrument had been honed to a fine cutting point for me. If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn.”

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Book:Fahrenheit 451
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“The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life's meaning. We long for a Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish mistakes. But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable. If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.”

IfsLongHardCarePurposeParentGoalMistakeOur LivesIgnorancePlanetsEmbraceForgivingErrorsWorthyDeterminedSignificanceFragileCosmicCraveFablesReassuringHard TruthsCustodiansPale Blue Dot
Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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“The criminal misuse of time was pointing out the mistakes. Catching them―noticing them―that was essential. If you did not in your own mind distinguish between useful and erroneous information, then you were not learning at all, you were merely replacing ignorance with false belief, which was no improvement. The part of the man's statement that was true, however, was about the uselessness of speaking up. If I know that the teacher is wrong, and say nothing, then I remain the only one who knows, and that gives me an advantage over those who believe the teacher.”

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Book:Ender's Shadow
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“That historians should give their own country a break, I grant you; but not so as to state things contrary to fact. For there are plenty of mistakes made by writers out of ignorance, and which any man finds it difficult to avoid. But if we knowingly write what is false, whether for the sake of our country or our friends or just to be pleasant, what difference is there between us and hack writers? Readers should be very attentive to and critical of historians, and they in turn should be constantly on their guard.”

IfsMenGivingShouldWritingMadeCountryStatesFactsTurnsDifficultFriendshipDifferencesMistakeBreakHistoryIgnoranceReaderDiversitySocial JusticeSakeCriticalContraryOur CountryPlentyPleasantGrantsHistorianHacks
Author:Polybius
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