The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
I do not believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote criticizes the tendency of groups to make poor decisions due to individual lack of knowledge.
Thomas Carlyle's quote highlights the fallacy of relying on group consensus when the individuals within the group lack understanding or knowledge. It suggests that collective decision-making, when based on ignorance, can lead to misguided beliefs and actions, emphasizing the importance of informed individuals in shaping sound judgments.
Themes
WisdomIgnoranceCollectiveDecision MakingKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about voting, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of individual research.
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes βThirty millions, mostly fools.
Thomas CarlyleRead
There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
Thomas CarlyleRead
For the superior morality, of which we hear so much, we too would desire to be thankful: at the same time, it were but blindness to deny that this superior morality is properly rather an inferior criminality, produced not by greater love of Virtue, but by greater perfection of Police; and of that far subtler and stronger Police, called Public Opinion.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Clean undeniable right, clear undeniable might: either of these once ascertained puts an end to battle. All battle is a confused experiment to ascertain one and both of these.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Similar quotes
Long is the road from conception to completion.
MoliereRead
It is not the desire of new acquisitions, but the glory of conquests, that fires the soldier's breast; as indeed the town is seldom worth much, when it has suffered the devastations of a siege.
Samuel JohnsonRead
It is remarkable how long men will believe in the bottomlessness of a pond without taking the trouble to sound it.
Henry David ThoreauRead
If you're determined to think of yourself as limited, fearful, vulnerable, or scarred by past experience, know only that you have chosen to do so. The opportunity to experience yourself differently is always available.
Yongey Mingyur RinpocheRead
It is madness to make fortune the mistress of events, because by herself she is nothing and is ruled by prudence.
John DrydenRead
One must know not just how to accept a gift, but with what grace to share it.
Maya AngelouRead