Joseph Joubert Quotes

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.

Ignorance is bold and knowledge reserved.

It is a tragedy of the world that no one knows what he doesn't know - the less a man knows, the more sure it is that he knows everything.

I think the reason I am important is that I know everything.

Doubt is the offspring of knowledge: the savage never doubts at all.

I know everything that's out there that's worth knowing about.

Incompetence is certainty in the absence of expertise. Overconfidence is certainty in the presence of expertise.

I can always tell how stupid someone is by how certain they are about what they're saying.

You may have noticed that the less I know about a subject the more confidence I have, and the more new light I throw on it.

The kind of man who always thinks that he is right, that his opinions, his pronouncements, are the final word, when once exposed shows nothing there. But a wise man has much to learn without a loss of dignity.

A dogmatic tone is generally inspired by abysmal ignorance. The man who knows nothing thinks he is informing others of something which he has that moment learnt; the man who knows a great deal can scarcely believe that people are ignorant of what he is telling them, and speaks more diffidently.

No one is so wrong as the man who knows all the answers.

The most ignorant are the boldest conjecturers.

They knew many things but had no idea why. And strangely this made them more, rather than less, certain that they were right.

He knows so little and knows it so fluently.

Youth is wasted on the young.

I'm an intellectual.

What's an expert? I read somewhere, that the more a man knows, the more he knows he doesn't know. So I suppose one definition of an expert would be someone who doesn't admit out loud that he knows enough about a subject to know he doesn't really know how much.

Without education we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.

They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.

They are so knowing, that they know nothing.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.

I think there is a basic comfort in clever people who know things.

I think there's a difference between ditzy and dumb. Dumb is just not knowing. Ditzy is having the courage to ask!

Of course, I'm no dummy.