“The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.”
Herodotus (-484–-425 BC) ancient Greek historian, often considered as the first historian
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.”
Herodotus (-484–-425 BC) ancient Greek historian, often considered as the first historian
The words of Socrates, as quoted by Diogenes Laertius.
Misattributed
“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”
Socrates (-470–-399 BC) classical Greek Athenian philosopher
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 <br class="br">Diogenes Laertius <br class="br">Variant: The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
F. Anstey (1856–1934) English novelist and journalist
Source: The Brass Bottle (1900), Chapter 3, “An Unexpected Opening”
Lloyd Alexander (1924–2007) American children's writer
Source: The Arkadians
“I would rather be a little nobody, then to be a evil somebody.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
“I would be — for no knowledge is worth a straw —
Ignorant and wanton as the dawn.”
W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) Irish poet and playwright
The Dawn http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1612/ <br class="br">The Wild Swans at Coole (1919) <br class="br">Context: I would be ignorant as the dawn<br>That merely stood, rocking the glittering coach<br>Above the cloudy shoulders of the horses;<br>I would be — for no knowledge is worth a straw —<br>Ignorant and wanton as the dawn.
Ramakrishna (1836–1886) Indian mystic and religious preacher
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.”
Diogenes Laërtius (180–240) biographer of ancient Greek philosophers
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.”
Richard Branson (1950) English business magnate, investor and philanthropist
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.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher