ignorance - quotes

Gustave Flaubert, 1821-1880

was a French realist novelist

Our ignorance of history makes us libel our own times. People have always been like this.

George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), 1903-1950

was an English essayist, novelist, and satirist

The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version is the past and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia, but to keep the very structure of society intact.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832

was a German dramatist, novelist, poet, and scientist

Nothing is worse than active ignorance.

(William Penn Adair) "Will" Rogers, 1879-1935

was an US humorist and showman

Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.

(Marcus Tullius) Cicero, 106 BC-43 BC

was a Roman author, orator, and politician

To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to be ever a child. For what is man's lifetime unless the memory of past events is woven with those of earlier times?

( “Orator” )

(William Penn Adair) "Will" Rogers, 1879-1935

was an US humorist and showman

An ignorant person is one who doesn't know what you have just found out.

Anatole France (François-Anatole Thibault), 1844-1924

was a French novelist

Ignorance is a necessary condition of human happiness, and it must be owned that in most cases we fulfill it well. We know almost nothing about ourselves; absolutely nothing about our neighbors. Ignorance constitutes our peace of mind; self- deception our felicity.

( “The Gods are Thirsty”, 1912 )

Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

was an US (German-born) physicist

Never underestimate your own ignorance.

( speech )