He that knows not what the world is, knows not where he is himself. He that knows not for what he was made, knows not what he is nor what the world is.
VIII, 52
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VIII
“The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.”
Source: How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading
Last update June 3, 2021.
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Mortimer J. Adler 31
American philosopher and educator 1902–2001Related quotes
“One loves to say what he knows, the other loves to say what he thinks.”
Joseph Joubert
(1754–1824) French moralist and essayist
“He who thinks he knows, doesn't know. He who knows that he doesn't know, knows.”
Joseph Campbell
(1904–1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer
“So far as consciousness goes, one does one's thinking before one knows what he is to think about.”
Edwin Boring
(1886–1968) American psychologist
Source: A History of Experimental Psychology, 1929, p. 397: Cited in: Jay M. Jackson (2013) Social Psychology, Past and Present: An Integrative Orientation, p. 28
IV, 18
Source: Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book IV
“A person knows what he knows. An animal knows, but doesn't know what he knows”
Baba Hari Dass
(1923–2018) master yogi, author, builder, commentator of Indian spiritual tradition
Fire without Fuel - The Aphorisms of Baba Hari Dass, 1986
Context: A person knows what he knows. An animal knows, but doesn't know what he knows. In Yoga, "I" consciousness is called asmita klesha. It is classified as an affliction and a hindrance to attaining higher consciousness. There is always a chance for a person to break out of the cycle, but there is no such chance for an animal unless it incarnates as a human and develops "I" consciousness. (p.36-7)
Arthur Miller
(1915–2005) playwright from the United States
Paris Review (Summer 1966)
Context: Success, instead of giving freedom of choice, becomes a way of life. There's no country I've been to where people, when you come into a room and sit down with them, so often ask you, "What do you do?" And, being American, many's the time I've almost asked that question, then realized it's good for my soul not to know. For a while! Just to let the evening wear on and see what I think of this person without knowing what he does and how successful he is, or what a failure. We're ranking everybody every minute of the day.