
“The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.”
The words of Socrates, as quoted by Diogenes Laertius.
Misattributed
Source: The Suppliants, line 453; comparable to "where ignorance is bliss, / 'Tis folly to be wise", Thomas Gray, On a Distant Prospect of Eton College, stanza 10
“The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.”
The words of Socrates, as quoted by Diogenes Laertius.
Misattributed
“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”
Socrates II: xxxi http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=D.+L.+2.5.31&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0257#note-link14. Original Greek: ἓν μόνον ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, τὴν ἐπιστήμην, καὶ ἓν μόνον κακόν, τὴν ἀμαθίαν
Diogenes Laertius
Variant: The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
Source: The Brass Bottle (1900), Chapter 3, “An Unexpected Opening”
“I would rather be a little nobody, then to be a evil somebody.”
“I would be — for no knowledge is worth a straw —
Ignorant and wanton as the dawn.”
The Dawn http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1612/
The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)
Context: I would be ignorant as the dawn
That merely stood, rocking the glittering coach
Above the cloudy shoulders of the horses;
I would be — for no knowledge is worth a straw —
Ignorant and wanton as the dawn.
As quoted in Hindu Psychology : Its Meaning for the West (1946) by Swami Akhilananda, p. 204
“He said that there was one only good, namely, knowledge; and one only evil, namely, ignorance.”
Socrates, 14.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 2: Socrates, his predecessors and followers
“Most "necessary evils" are far more evil than necessary.”
Source: Losing My Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way
“Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others.”