Thomas Jefferson Quotes

Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.

He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.

The more I see the less I know for sure.

Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance.

In truth, opinion may be taken for understanding; understanding cannot be taken for opinion. How so? Surely because opinion may be deceived; understanding cannot be. If it could, it would not be understanding but opinion. For true understanding has not only certain truth, but the knowledge of truth.

We do not find truth groveling through error.

The truth is perilous never to the true, Nor knowledge to the wise; and to the fool, And to the false, error and truth alike, Error is worse than ignorance.

Seeing is believing and believing is knowing and knowing beats unknowing and the unknown.

Doubt is the vestibule through which all must pass before they can enter into the temple of wisdom.

A man may imagine things that are false, but he can only understand things that are true, for if the things be false, the apprehension of them is not understanding.

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.

Getting rid of a delusion makes us wiser than getting hold of a truth.

The first point of wisdom is to discern that which is false; the second, to know that which is true.

Knowledge is two-fold, and consists not only in an affirmation of what is true, but in the negation of that which is false.

Our knowledge is a receding mirage in an expanding desert of ignorance.

Belief and knowledge are considered to be two different things. But they are not.

We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand.

The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything.

Knowledge is ancient error reflecting on its youth.

Ignorance never settles a question.

Science is what you know. Philosophy is what you don't know.

There's stuff in this world, everybody pretends they understand. But we don't understand. It's important to listen.

Well isn’t that one thing you’re all the more wise for? Age has taught you something. It seems to me that you know the big secret. That nobody knows what’s going on

No doubt about it: error is the rule, truth is the accident of error.

Knowledge, idea, belief stands in the way of wisdom.