“Profound ignorance makes a man dogmatical”

— Jean de La Bruyère, book Les Caractères

76
Les Caractères (1688), De la société et de la conversation
Context: Profound ignorance makes a man dogmatical; he who knows nothing thinks he can teach others what he just now has learned himself; whilst he who knows a great deal can scarcely imagine any one should be unacquainted with what he says, and, therefore, speaks with more indifference.

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Jean de La Bruyère65

17th-century French writer and philosopher 1645–1696

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