Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that false certainties can lead to greater trouble than ignorance.
Mark Twain's quote reflects the idea that having a misguided confidence in incorrect knowledge is more dangerous than being unaware or uninformed. It suggests that certainty in false beliefs can lead to mistakes and difficulties in life, urging people to question their assumptions and beliefs.
Themes
KnowledgeCertaintyTruthWisdomBelief
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on critical thinking, this quote can be used to illustrate the importance of questioning our own assumptions.
More from Mark Twain
All quotes βThe easy part of being an artist is figuring out the message that everyone else is ready to hear. The hard part is waiting for the proper lull to make the announcement.
Mark TwainRead
You can't reason with your heart; it has its own laws, and thumps about things which the intellect scorns.
Mark TwainRead
To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.
Mark TwainRead
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
Mark TwainRead
In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.
Mark TwainRead
Similar quotes
During the day extend that attitude to everyone you meet. Practice cherishing the "simplest" person (clerks, attendants, etc) or people you dislike.
Dalai LamaRead
Learn all you can, don't be lazy. Nothing's worse than being stupid. Being broke is bad, but being stupid is what's really bad. And what's really really bad is being broke and stupid. Nothing's much worse than that. Unless you're sick. Sick, broke and stupid, thatβs about as far as you can fall unless you're ugly. Surely that would be the ultimate; ugly, sick, broke and stupid.
Jim RohnRead
Just for today, I will let go of anger. Just for today, I will let go of worry. Today, I will count my many blessings. Today, I will do my work honestly. Today, I will be kind to every living creature.
Mikao UsuiRead
Money is a needful and precious thing, and when well used, a noble thing, but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for. I'd rather see you poor men's wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace.
Louisa May AlcottRead
Caesar was a man of great common sense and good taste, meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage.
George Bernard ShawRead
A Warrior also knows that the fool who gives advice about someone else's garden is not tending his own plants.
Paulo CoelhoRead