He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.
Interpretation
Acknowledging one's ignorance can lead to a clearer understanding of truth than holding onto false beliefs.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the importance of humility in knowledge. It suggests that those who recognize their lack of understanding are often more open to discovering the truth than those who are complacently confident in their misguided beliefs. This reflects a deep philosophical perspective on the nature of knowledge and the dangers of ignorance.
In practice
During a debate about misinformation, this quote could highlight the value of acknowledging what we do not know.
The firmness with which the (American) people have withstood the... abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false and to form a correct judgment between them.
I, place economy among the first & most important republican virtues, & public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared
βWe must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor and in our amusements...if we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican tack. To preserve it in that, will require unremitting vigilance.
A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
Captain Shotover: How much does your soul eat? Ellie: Oh, a lot. It eats music and pictures and books and mountains and lakes and beautiful things to wear and nice people to be with.
Blessed is the mind that jumps over and beyond its own conditioning and lands again into its natural state of unmoving awareness.
If there are people at once rich and content, be assured that they are content because they know how to be so, not because they are rich
Stress is a function not of events, but of our view of those events.
The moment people feel they know what to expect from you, your spell on them is broken. More: You have ceded them power.
To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.