“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”

— George Bernard Shaw

Last update July 25, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance." by George Bernard Shaw?

George Bernard Shaw photo

George Bernard Shaw413

Irish playwright 1856–1950

Related quotes

“… Writings can be stolen, or changed, or used for evil purposes. But isn't the risk worth taking? The more people who share knowledge, the greater safeguard for it. Isn't there more danger in ignorance than knowledge?”

Lloyd Alexander (1924–2007) American children's writer

Source: The Arkadians

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

Source: 1960s, Strength to Love (1963), Ch. 4 : Love in action, Sct. 3

“The one thing that is more dangerous than true ignorance is the illusion of understanding.”

A. C. Grayling (1949) English philosopher

Source: Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life Without God (2002), Chapter 57, “Becoming Philosophical” (p. 226)

“Beware: the Government Is Armed and Dangerous.”

John Hospers (1918–2011) American philosopher and politician

Source: The Libertarian Alternative, (1977), p. 12

“In friendship as well as love, ignorance very often contributes more to our happiness than knowledge.”

François de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) French author of maxims and memoirs

“It is almost as difficult to make a man unlearn his errors as his knowledge. Mal-information is more hopeless than non-information; for error is always more busy than ignorance. Ignorance is a blank sheet, on which we may write; but error is a scribbled one, on which we must first erase. Ignorance is contented to stand still with her back to the truth; but error is more presumptuous, and proceeds in the same direction. Ignorance has no light, but error follows a false one. The consequence is, that error, when she retraces her footsteps, has further to go, before she can arrive at the truth, than ignorance.”

Charles Caleb Colton (1777–1832) British priest and writer

Vol. I; I
Lacon (1820)

“They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.”

Terry Pratchett book Equal Rites

Source: Equal Rites

“Truth is harder to bear than ignorance, and so ignorance is valued more— also because the status quo depends on it; but love depends on self-knowledge and self-knowledge depends on being able to bear the truth.”

Andrea Dworkin book Intercourse

Source: Intercourse (1987), Chapter 4

“There is no method of reasoning more common, and yet none more blameable, than in philosophical debates to endeavour to refute any hypothesis by a pretext of its dangerous consequences to religion and morality. When any opinion leads us into absurdities, 'tis certainly false; but 'tis not certain an opinion is false, because 'tis of dangerous consequence.”

David Hume book A Treatise of Human Nature

Part 3, Section 2
A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-40), Book 2: Of the passions

“Even as a youngster, though, I could not bring myself to believe that if knowledge presented danger, the solution was ignorance.”

Isaac Asimov book The Caves of Steel

Source: The Caves of Steel

Related topics