Continuous learning is one of the keys to achieving success in life.
That's why learning, knowledge and wisdom, and focusing on self-education are three things that fit together hand-in-glove.
With that in mind, you can draw a wealth of inspiration by reading and truly understanding famous knowledge quotes from some of the world's most famous people. From these words of wisdom, you can grow as a person and find out what it takes to better yourself.
In this post, we cover 103 knowledge quotes that will help you: understand the meaning behind each experience, embrace the importance of increasing your self knowledge, and learn to love learning. First, we'll cover the quotes that focus on the importance of being a lifelong learner.
Increasing Self Knowledge Quotes
I find it hard to find a topic more compelling and important than continuous learning. It has been proven to be one of the most essential skills that the most successful people in the world have embraced.
These days learning new skills and gaining knowledge is a lifetime gig. Not something set aside for a few years of advanced education.
The quotes about knowledge above give us some wise looks at why knowledge, education and learning are important. But as with any simple quotes, they don’t teach us how to find the time and energy to keep continuous learning going on.
After all, they are just knowledge quotes. They are only meant to inspire, not teach.
If you want to new skills, first you will want to decide on what skills you want to learn and then make a plan to go get them.
Many skills are job-specific or represent something you have wanted to be able to do for a long time. But that does not always need to be the case… you may want to investigate skills that simply help you do better in life.
For example, this massive list of 101 new skills to learn shows some great places to give a little bit extra effort toward making a better version of yourself. And this article on 135 soft skills can help you get a promotion or nail that next job interview.
More important than the desire to learn is understanding your best possible learning style.
We all learn differently. The problems some people have with learning new knowledge is often not lack of intelligence, but that the information is given to them in a sub-optimal manner.
Now, before we get to these quotes on increasing self knowledge, I recommend checking out the Skillshare website which provides a variety of courses that can help you learn any skill. (You can also read our review of Skillshare here.)
- Be a lifelong student. The more you learn, the more you earn and the more self-confidence you will have. – Brian Tracy
- “Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.”― Carl Gustav Jung
- “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.”― Ronald E. Osborn
- “The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.”― Sir William Bragg
- “To know that you do not know is best. To think you know when you do not is a disease. Recognizing this disease as a disease is to be free of it.” -Lao Tzu
- “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.”― Socrates
- “The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.”― Herbert Spencer
- “If we would have new knowledge, we must get a whole world of new questions.”― Susanne K. Langer
- “The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.”― John F. Kennedy
- “In your thirst for knowledge, be sure not to drown in all the information.” – Anthony J. D'Angelo
“Knowledge is a weapon. I intend to be formidably armed.”― Terry Goodkind
- “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”― Benjamin Franklin
- “If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?”― Thomas Henry Huxley
- “Fill thy mind with useful knowledge and thou shalt avoid empty words.”― James Lendall Basford
- “Knowledge, like air, is vital to life. Like air, no one should be denied it.” – Alan Moore
“No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire.”― L. Frank Baum
- “Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse.”― African Proverb
- “Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or self-confidence.”― Robert Frost
- “Knowledge has a beginning but no end.”― Geeta S. Iyengar
- “We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge.”― John Naisbitt
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Want to build a success-focused morning routine? Well, watch this video to learn about the 12 morning routine habits of the world's most successful people.
Famous Quotes on Sharing Your Knowledge
The powerful quotes in this section shows us the value and importance of sharing your knowledge with others.
After all, success these days takes more than just a college education. Far more important is to keep learning new skills and increasing your knowledge base.
(Side bar: If you'd like to learn how to master the skill of self-education and learn how to master any new skill, then I recommend checking the book Novice to Expert.)
Many people desire or even need to increase their knowledge and improve their skills.
But find they lack the time to follow through on their education and skill development, and often quit in frustration after beginning to learn something new.
We all want to expand on our existing knowledge. But sometimes it's impossible to stay consistent with a new skill or habit. It's easy to fall into the trap where you focus only on learning and never get around to implementing the information.
The truth is: You can learn anything… without spending lots of money… without dedicating thousands of hours to the process… and often without leaving the comfort of your home.
So, with that in mind, let's dive into the quotes related to sharing your knowledge with others.
- “A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.” – Father James Keller
- “The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.”― Oscar Wilde
- “In today's environment, hoarding knowledge ultimately erodes your power. If you know something very important, the way to get power is by actually sharing it.”― Joseph Badaracco
- “Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority.” -Thomas H. Huxley
“We owe almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed but to those who have differed.”― Charles Caleb Colton
- “All knowledge is connected to all other knowledge. The fun is in making the connections.”― Arthur C. Aufderheide
- “Sharing your knowledge with others does not make you less important.”― Unknown
- “If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.”― Margaret Fuller
- “Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.”― Dalai Lama XIV
- “Everyone is ignorant only on different subjects.” – Will Rogers
- “It is nothing for one to know something unless another knows you know it.”― Persian Proverb
- “Educate a boy, and you educate an individual. Educate a girl, and you educate a community.”― Adelaide Hoodless
“Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.”― Peter F. Drucker
- “Knowledge increases by sharing but not by saving.”― Kamari aka Lyrikal
- “It is good to rub, and polish our brain against that of others.” – Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
Quotes About Wisdom
My favorite quote about knowledge acknowledges that fact: “The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing.”
While you might strive to learn as much as you can about the world, it is impossible to know everything. At a certain point, you have to recognize when you aren't an expert about a topic. And more importantly, you should be humble enough to look back at your mistakes (and challenges) to evaluate the lessons that you learned from them.
With that in mind, here are a variety of quotes about wisdom…
- “Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.” – Sandra Carey
- “Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.”― Miles Kington
- “One can resist the invasion of an army but one cannot resist the invasion of ideas.”― Victor Hugo
- “The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”― Robertson Davies
- “And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”― John 8:32
- “Sometimes it’s necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly.”― Edward Albee
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.”― Confucius
- “Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.”― Plato
- “The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.”― Carl R. Rogers
- “One part of knowledge consists in being ignorant of such things as are not worthy to be known.” Socrates
- “People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.”― Theodore Roosevelt
- “The ability to perceive or think differently is more important than the knowledge gained.”― David Bohm
- “Example is the best precept.”― Aesop
- “Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.”― John Locke
- “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”― Socrates
- “A true knowledge of ourselves is knowledge of our power.”― Mark Rutherford
- “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” – Albert Einstein
“Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.”― Will Durant
- “Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before.”― Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
- “As I grow to understand life less and less I grow to love it more and more.”― Jules Renard
Lack of Knowledge Quotes
People who lack knowledge or just don’t care about self-education can be amusing. Some of the quotes about the lack of knowledge are a bit funny.
But ignorance is only funny in the abstract. In reality, there is nothing funny about this.
People who lack knowledge will fall further and further behind in their chosen fields. In fact, this is one of the biggest lessons I've learned in life.
No single knowledge quote is going to make you go out and bust your butt to learn. (That has to come from within)
But hopefully, some of these knowledge quotes have given you a tiny bit of inspiration to put forth some effort to improve yourself and continue your self-education.
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- “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” – Aldous Huxley
- “Lack of knowledge is the source of all pains and sorrows whether dormant, attenuated, interrupted or fully active.”― B.K.S. Iyengar
- “People love answers, but only as long as they are the ones who came up with them.”― Criss Jami
- “Problems often become worse if incompetent people try to solve them.”― Eraldo Banovac
- “There is no wealth like knowledge, and no poverty like ignorance.”― Buddha
- “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw
“A lack of knowledge creates fear. Seeking knowledge creates courage.”― Candice Swanepoel
- “The highest form of ignorance is to reject something you know nothing about.”― Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
- “Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”― Solomon
- “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”― Daniel J. Boorstin
- “Ignorance is not a simple lack of knowledge but an active aversion to knowledge, the refusal to know, issuing from cowardice, pride, or laziness of mind.” – Karl Popper
- “Some students drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.”― Unknown
- “You can't know too much, but you can say too much.”― Calvin Coolidge
“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in.”― Isaac Asimov
- “Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.”― Euripides
- “Small minds have always lashed out at what they don't understand.” – Dan Brown
- “There is only one cause of unhappiness: the false beliefs you have in your head, beliefs so widespread, so commonly held, that it never occurs to you to question them.”― Anthony de Mello
- “Every mind was made for growth, for knowledge, and its nature is sinned against when it is doomed to ignorance.”― William Ellery Channing
Inspiring Quotes About Knowledge
Some great thinkers consider knowledge the greatest treasure any of us can possess.
Major events throughout history have been brought about by people’s acquisition of more knowledge. The more they knew, the more they wanted things to change.
That’s why there had been revolutions. These revolutions weren’t just in the government.
The world also witness revolutions in healthcare, education, and other areas of society.
So, here are inspiring quotes, which give you a glimpse of how potent true knowledge can be in inspiring positive change.
- “The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.” – Frank Herbert
- “Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.” – Anton Chekov
- “I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn’t know.” – Mark Twain
- “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” – Kofi Annan
- “Knowledge has power. It controls access to opportunity and advancement.” – Peter F. Drucker
- “The dumbest people I know are those who know it all.” – Malcolm Forbes
“Timeless knowledge prepares you for a changing world.” – James Pierce
- “The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
- “Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.” – Plato
- “To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.” – Nicolaus Copernicus
- “Real knowledge is intrinsic and it’s built from the ground up.” – Naval Ravikant
- “Knowledge is power—power to do evil or power to do good. Power itself is not evil. So knowledge itself is not evil.” – Veronica Roth
- “Great minds are always feared by lesser minds.” – Dan Brown
- “Knowledge of the past and of the places of the earth is the ornament and food of the mind of man.” – Leonardo da Vinci
- “Belief is the wound that knowledge heals.” – Ursula K. Le Guin
- “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.” – Epictetus
- “The end of all knowledge should be service to others.” – Cesar Chavez
- “The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.” – Anaïs Nin
- “Without knowledge action is useless and knowledge without action is futile.” – Abu Bakr
- “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- “Great knowledge is universal. Small knowledge is limited. Great words are inspiring. Small words are chatter.” – Zhuangzi
“All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.” – Immanuel Kant
- “All knowledge hurts.” – Cassandra Claire
- “Knowledge is love and light and vision.” – Helen Keller
- “It is beyond a doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience.” – Immanuel Kant
- “The desire of knowledge, like the thirst of riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it.” – Laurence Sterne
- “Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge.” – Leonardo da Vinci
- “I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teaching my blood whispers to me.” – Herman Hesse
- “Those who have knowledge, don’t predict. Those who predict, don’t have knowledge.” – Lao Tzu
- “Every addition to true knowledge is an addition to human power.” – Horace Mann
Inspired by These Knowledge Quotes?
Have your own great quotes about knowledge? Why not share them, or your thoughts in the comments below
If you enjoyed this collection of knowledge quotes please be sure to share them on your favorite social media channel!
Finally, if you'd like to discover other great quotes related to increasing your knowledge, then I recommend checking out these articles:
- 87 Education Quotes to Inspire Children, Parents, and Students
- 100 Hard Work Quotes to Achieve All You Want in Life
- 83 Quotes About Understanding Others (and Yourself)
- 61 Jim Rohn Quotes on Habits and Success in Life
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then watch this free video that details the 7-minute habit for planning your day to focus on what's truly important to you..
