“Knowledge by suffering entereth,
And life is perfected by death.”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) English poet, author
A Vision of Poets (1844)
Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Pantagruel (1532), Chapter 8 <!-- Thy father Gargantua. From Utopia the 17th day of the month of March. -->
Variant translation: Wisdom entereth not into a malicious mind, and science without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.
Original: Science sans conscience n'est que ruine de l'âme.
Context: But because, as the wise man Solomon saith, Wisdom entereth not into a malicious mind, and that knowledge without conscience is but the ruin of the soul, it behoveth thee to serve, to love, to fear God, and on him to cast all thy thoughts and all thy hope, and by faith formed in charity to cleave unto him, so that thou mayst never be separated from him by thy sins. Suspect the abuses of the world. Set not thy heart upon vanity, for this life is transitory, but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever. Be serviceable to all thy neighbours, and love them as thyself. Reverence thy preceptors: shun the conversation of those whom thou desirest not to resemble, and receive not in vain the graces which God hath bestowed upon thee.
“Knowledge by suffering entereth,
And life is perfected by death.”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) English poet, author
A Vision of Poets (1844)
“Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.”
Edward Abbey (1927–1989) American author and essayist
A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990)
“Science without conscience is the soul's perdition.”
Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel
Source: Pantagruel
“A soul without reflection, like a pile
Without inhabitant, to ruin runs.”
Source: Night-Thoughts (1742–1745), Night V, Line 596.
“The one who acts without knowledge, destroys and ruins more than he rectifies.”
Muhammad al-Taqi (811–835) ninth of the Twelve Imams of Twelver Shi'ism
Majlisi, Bihārul Anwār, vol.78, p. 364
Regarding Knowledge & Wisdom, General
“A clever mind is not a heart. Knowledge doesn't really care, wisdom does.”
Benjamin Hoff book The Tao of Pooh
The Now of Pooh.
Source: The Tao of Pooh (1982)
Context: Abstract cleverness of the mind only separates the thinker from the world of reality, and that world, the Forest of Real Life, is in a desperate condition now because of too many who think too much and care too little. In spite of what many minds have thought themselves into believing, that mistake cannot continue for much longer if everything is going to survive. The one chance we have to avoid certain disaster is to change our approach, and learn to value wisdom and contentment. These are things that are being searched for anyway, through Knowledge and Cleverness, but they do not come from Knowledge and Cleverness. They never have, and they never will. We can no longer afford to look so desperately hard for something in the wrong way and in the wrong place. If Knowledge and Cleverness are allowed to go on wrecking things, they will before much longer destroy all life on this earth as we know it, and what little may temporarily survive will not be worth looking at, even if it were possible for us to do so.
“Live in the Moment", "Empty Your Mind of the Trash"
Wisdom is the Use of Knowledge”
Dan Millman (1946) American self help writer