“The peasantry are wiser in their ignorance than the savants of St Petersburg in their learning.”
Source: Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy (1958), Chapter Six, The Flight From Laputa, p. 128
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
William Barrett (philosopher) 25
American academic 1913–1992Related quotes

“No man is the wiser for his learning.”
Learning.
Table Talk (1689)
“We live and learn, but not the wiser grow.”
Reason: A Poem, 1700.

“While it is wise to learn from experience, it is wiser to learn from the experiences of others.”
Source: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

“A learned fool is more foolish than an ignorant one.”
Un sot savant est sot plus qu'un sot ignorant.
Act IV, sc. iii
Les Femmes Savantes (1672)

22 February 1748
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)

“In such business
Action is eloquence, and the eyes of th’ ignorant
More learned than the ears.”

“A single day among the learned lasts longer than the longest life of the ignorant.”
As quoted in Epistulae morales ad Lucilium by Seneca, Epistle LXXVIII (trans. R. M. Gummere)

Source: Leadership Gold: Lessons I've Learned from a Lifetime of Leading