USELESS UNLESS USED

"Information is not knowledge."

Albert Einstein, 20th century German-born theoretical physicist.

It can lead to knowledge, even action once put to use.

However, not learned and applied once learned, there is little value.

KNOW THIS

"Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new."

Augustine "Og" Mandino, 20th century American author.

One, because you're not as big, as important as you think you are, and two, because there is way more you don't know than that you do.

I DIDN'T ALWAYS KNOW THIS. WISH I DID.

"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't."

Anatole France, late 19th/early 20th century French poet.

I can't imagine many who were born knowing this; I know I wasn't.

But I do now and I'm much better off as a result.

And you?

DO YOU KNOW?

"Wisdom and deep intelligence require an honest appreciation of mystery."

Thomas Moore, early 19th century Irish poet

Paraphrasing, the truly intelligent know there is and always will be much more they don't know than there is that they do know.

Do you know?

WHAT YOU WILL, NOT WHAT YOU DON'T

"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance."

Confucius 5th century BC Chinese teacher/philosopher

You might think ignorance implies stupidity.

It doesn't.

Ignorance is only about what you don't yet know and there's no limit on how much you can know. 

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

"I don't like that man; I'm going to have to get to know him better."

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) President of the United States.

Why would Mr. Lincoln want to better know someone he doesn't like?

Because in doing so he might discover what he initially thought was wrong.

They're no harm confirming your initial impression was correct, and much to gain when you find it wasn't.

THE CERTAINTY OF YOUTH AND OLD AGE

"What Youth deemed crystal, Age finds out was dew."

Robert Browning (1812 -1889) British poet.

You are young if you are certain this is untrue, or true, regardless of your chronological age.

Only those uncertain are somewhere in between youth and old age.

WHAT'D YA KNOW?

"Where an opinion is general, it is usually correct."

Jane Austen (1775-1817) English novelist.

The more accurate your specific opinion proves to be, the more valuable it, and by extension, you, will be to others.

Accurate and specific; one without the other doesn't work.

UNDERSTAND?

"Mystery is not profoundness."

Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832) British clergyman/sportsman/author.

There are many things we don't understand, far more than those we do.

And while it is good to learn as much as possible, some of what we don't know is not worth learning.

The difficult part is deciding which is which.

KNOWING WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW

"Knowledge is proud that it knows so much. Wisdom is humble that it knows no more."

William Cowper (1731-1800) British poet.

Start by knowing you will always know much less than you need to know.

Do that and you've arrived at the first, most important level of wisdom.

IF YOU ONLY KNEW

"Know-how beats guess-how."

Unknown

And your chances for know-how greatly increase when you plan, your chance for success too.

ARE YOU YOUNGER THAN YOU THINK?

"No man knows he is young while he is young."

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) British journalist/novelist/poet.

Most young men and women feel they are knowledgeable and mature beyond their years.

Only when they (hopefully) become so much later are they are able to look back and see how lacking in knowledge and maturity they were.

Unfortunately some never do.

WHAT I DON'T KNOW NOW

"Nothing is as new as something long forgotten."

German proverb

It is each new generation's right to feel as though only they discover new things.

As well their affliction.

DID YOU NOTICE HOW KNOWLEDGEABLE I AM?

"Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgement."

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) Austrian-British philosopher

Acknowledgement by those you wish to recognize your knowledge.

If they don't, how knowledgeable are you really?

DID YOU KNOW . . . ?

"Most ignorance is invincible ignorance. We don't know because we don't want to know."

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) British author

And I'll bet we usually don't know when we knowingly or otherwise choose not to know.

You know?

I KNOW I MAYBE DON'T KNOW, BUT NOT MUCH ELSE

"Most ignorance is invincible ignorance. We don't know because we don't want to know."

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) British author

Interesting.

I wonder if we ever know we don't want to know?

Hmmm, I don't know.

THE PERILS OF INCOMPLETE INTELLIGENCE

"Better to be ignorant of a matter than half know it."

Publilius Syrus (1st Century BC) Roman writer and poet

I respectfully suggest an edit.

Better to be ignorant of a matter than half know it, taking action as though you knew it all.

I've been guilty of this, what about you?

TOO MUCH OF TWO, NOT ENOUGH OF ONE

"Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance."

Plato 

4th century BC Greek philosopher

Of greater importance is that most people can't tell the difference, not for others and certainly not for themselves.

Forget others, just concentrate on you.

Assume more ignorance than knowledge, acting accordingly, and you'll often end with the reverse being true.

I HAVE SOMETHING TO SHARE WITH YOU

"There is no delight in owning anything unshared."

Seneca

1st century BC Roman philosopher/playwright

Yes there is for those things meaningful only to you.

However, in most cases, for most things, sharing, which takes many forms, will bring you greater reward.

And nowhere is this more true than when it comes to sharing your knowledge.

IF YOU ONLY KNEW

"Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be."

Albert Einstein 

Late 19th/early 20th century German-Swiss-U.S. scientist

Or could be.

What you think you know might be enough to keep you from learning what you don't.