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Ignorance: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
How inexpressible is the meanness of being a hypocrite! how horrible is it to be a mischievous and malignant hypocrite. C.— VOLTAIRE — A Philosophical Dictionary. Philosopher. Sec. 1.
A man I knew who lived upon a smile, And well it fed him; he look'd plump and fair, While rankest venom foam'd through every vein.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night VIII. L. 336.
Their only labour was to kill the time; And labour dire it is, and weary woe, They sit, they loll, turn o'er some idle rhyme, Then, rising sudden, to the glass they go, Or saunter forth, with tottering steps and slow.— THOMSON — Castle of Indolence. Canto I. LXXII.
There is no remedy for time misspent; No healing for the waste of idleness, Whose very languor is a punishment Heavier than active souls can feel or guess.— SIR AUBREY DE VERE — A Song of Faith.
Devout Exercises, and Sonnets. But how can he expect that others should Build for him, sow for him, and at his call Love him, who for himself will take no heed at all?— WORDSWORTH — Resolution and Independence. St. 6.
Be ignorance thy choice, where knowledge leads to woe.— BEATTIE — The Minstrel. Bk. II. St. 30.
The truest characters of ignorance Are vanity, and pride, and annoyance. S.— BUTLER — Hudibras.
Ignorance seldom vaults into knowledge. but passes into it through an intermediate state of obscurity, even as night into day through twilight.— COLERIDGE — Essay XVI.
Ignorance never settles a question.— BENJ. DISRAELI — Speech in House of
и. Commons, May 14, 1866. Mr. Kremlin himself was distinguished for ignorance, for he had only one idea, and that was wrong.— BENJ. DISRAELI — Sybil. Bk. IV. Ch. V.
For your ignorance is the mother of your devotion to me.— DRYDEN — The Maiden Queen. Act I. Sc. 2.
He trudg'd along, unknowing what he sought, And whistled as he went, for want of thought.— DRYDEN — Cymon and Iphigenia. L. 84.
Ignorance gives one a large range of probabilities.— GEORGE ELIOT — Daniel Deronda. Bk. II. Ch. XIII.
Ignorance is the dominion of absurdity.— FROUDE — Short Studies on Great
Subjects. Party Politics. Often the cock-loft is empty, in those whom nature hath built many stories high.— FULLER — Andronicus. Sect. VI.
Par. 18. 1. Nothing is more terrible than active ignorance.— GOETHE — Opinions.
And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.— GOLDSMITH — Deserted Village. L. 61.
Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise.— GRAY — On a Distant Prospect of Eton College. St. 10.
Who ne'er knew salt, or heard the billows roar.— HOMER — Odyssey. Bk. XI. L. 153.
Pope's trans. It was a childish ignorance, But now 'tis little joy To know I'm further off from heaven Than when I was a boy.— HOOD — I Remember, I Remember.
The living man who does not learn, is dark, dark, like one walking in the night.— MING LUM PAOU KEEN — Trans. for
Chinese Repository by Dr. Wm. Milne. A man may live long, and die at last in ignorance of many truths, which his mind was capable of knowing, and that with certainty.— LOCKE — Human Understanding. Bk. I. Ch. II.
But let a man know that there are things to be known, of which he is ignorant, and it is so much carved out of his domain of universal knowledge.— HORACE MANN — Lectures on Education.
Causarum ignoratio in re novâ mirationem facit. In extraordinary events ignorance of their causes produces astonishment.— CICERO — De Divinatione. II. 22.
Ignoratione rerum bonarum et malarum maxime hominum vita vexatur. Through ignorance of what is good and what is bad, the life of men is greatly perplexed.— CICERO — De Finibus Bonorum et
Malorum. I. 13. Qui ex errore imperitæ multitudinis pendet, hic in magnis viris non est habendus. He who hangs on the errors of the ignorant multitude, must not be counted among great men.— CICERO — De Officiis. I. 19.
Lex succurit ignoranti. The law succors the ignorant. Law Maxim. O miseras hominum menteis! oh, pectora cæca How wretched are the minds of men, and how blind their understandings.— LUCRETIUS — De Rerum Natura. II. 14.
Quid crastina volveret ætas, Scire nefas homini. Man is not allowed to know what will happen to-morrow.— STATIUS — Thebais. III. 562.
Omne ignotum pro magnifico. Everything unknown is magnified.— TACITUS — Agricola. XXX.
Homine imperito nunquam quidquid injustius, Qui nisi quod ipse facit nihil rectum putat. Nothing can be more unjust than the ignorant man, who thinks that nothing is well done by himself.— TERENCE — Adelphi. I. 2. 18.
Ita me dii ament, ast ubi sim nescio. As God loves me, I know not where I am.— TERENCE — Heauton-Timoroumenos.
II. 3. 67. Namque inscitia est, Adversum stimulum calces. It is consummate ignorance to kick against the pricks.— TERENCE — Phormio. I. 2. 27.
Rien n'est si dangereux qu'un ignorant ami: Mieux vaudrait un sage ennemi. Nothing is so dangerous as an ignorant friend; a wise enemy is worth more.— LA FONTAINE — Fables. VIII. 10.
Es ist nichts Schrecklicher als eine thätige Unwissenheit. There is nothing more frightful than an active ignorance.— GOETHE — Sprüche in Prosa. III.