Thomas Reid Quotes

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

If nobody said anything unless he knew what he was talking about, a ghastly hush would descend upon the earth.

It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.

We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.

When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.

I wash my hands of those who imagine chattering to be knowledge, silence to be ignorance, and affection to be art.

Smatterers in learning are the most opinionated.

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.

We love to hear some men speak, though we hear not what they say.

It is better to be ignorant than to half know something.

No one, however smart, however well educated … is the suppository of all wisdom.

Ignorance is bold and knowledge reserved.

How can people be so stupid? I marvel at that. See, I think you have to work as being ignorant - and if you're gonna work at being ignorant, why not work at being informed?

Speech is human, silence is divine, yet also brutish and dead: therefore we must learn both arts.

If you are ignorant, you certainly can get into some interesting arguments.

A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.

There is a time to speak and a time to listen, and sometimes people need to shut up.

He who talks more is sooner exhausted.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but a little want of knowledge is also a dangerous thing.

He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.

Why did God give me two ears and one mouth? So that I will hear more and talk less.

I willingly speak to those who know, but for those who do not know I forget.

My father also happened to be an intellectual, as learned, literate, informed, and curious as anyone I have known. Unobtrusively and casually, he was my wise and gentle teacher.

Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge.