Orson Scott Card Quotes on Knowledge

39 quotes

42. You remember this little boy; they never tell you anymore truth than they have to.

97. Don't ever try to teach me about good and evil. I've been there; you've seen nothing but the map

99. Ignorance and deception can't save anybody. Knowing saves them:

105. There's so much that we don't understand. And so much more that you don't understand. We should tell each other more

126. I think you can't possibly know the truth about somebody unless you love them.

127. I knew her so well that I loved her, or maybe I loved her so well that I knew her.

139. When have you ever seen someone who had no doubts who was also correct about anything?'

165. I really don't fear death. I never knew that.

198. If you tell what you know, everyone is wiser. If you keep a secret, then everyone is a fool.

214. I know it as much as anyone knows anything. Knowledge is just opinion that you trust enough to act upon.

223. But he did love her, with all his heart he loved her. All his heart? All of it he knew about.

267. He knew that bean's powers of analysis were extraordinary. So, also, were his powers of deception. Some of bean's guesses weren't right - but was that because he didn't know the truth, or because he simply didn't want them to know how much he knew, or how much he guessed

299. God made us with death inside, and also with intelligence. We have our seventy years or so - perhaps ninety, with care - in the mountains of GA, a 130 is not unheard of, though I personally believe they are all liars. They would claim to be immortal if they thought they could get away with it. We could live forever, if we were willing to be stupid the whole time. Surely you're not saying that god had to choose between long life and intelligence for human beings! It's there in your own bible, Carlotta. Two trees of knowledge and life. You eat of the tree of knowledge, and you will surely die. You eat of the tree of life, and you remain a child in the garden forever, undying.

335. [He] didn't know what to say. He didn't even know the name for what he was feeling. 'I think that I don't know you.' she looked at him, a little perplexed. 'No that's wrong. I think that I didn't know you before, even though I thought I knew you, and know that I finally know you, I don't really know you at all.'

348. You know nothing about me at all. Which is almost certainly true. I know nothing about you. No one knows anything about you.

360. How do you know you're right and were wrong? I don't know

403. I knew you'd say that, that's why I hate you

405. You don't understand everything, but you still make decisions. Well, we don't understand everything, either. But we decided didn't we? And we made the right choice, didn't we?

437. [He] never claims to know what he doesn't know. When he's unsure, he says so. When he's sure, he's always right

469. In their ignorance, they were happy

494. It seems that the more I learn, the less I know. While the more ignorant remain absolutely certain of their convictions

506. Don't ask me questions when I don't even know the answer myself

602. Some people are so right they never learn a thing.

661. Knowing was better than not knowing. But not by much.

750. All that you do is mortal - it is all born. It all dies. And yet you struggle against mortality and have overcome it, building up tremendous stores of shared knowledge through your finite books and your finite words. You put frames on everything Mass insanity, then. But it explains nothing about why you worship. You must come here to mock us. Not to mock you. To envy you Then die

764. The vision of the gods without the power of the gods. What a terrible gift A glorious gift

806. I don't know you You don't know anything

808. How dare they suppress the truth, I thought. But in the months since then I have come to understand that there are different kinds of truth

858. Self-knowledge can be painful, but not half so damaging as self-ignorance

865. She never touched me, at least not as she had before, not with the promise of decades of passion in out future. She knew, but I did not yet know

960. Why are you here? Because when I get the answers to my questions, I want to be able to act on them immediately

964. There are stranger things on heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy

973. I know absolutely nothing about anything

982. A little learning is a dangerous thing

1002. You must be careful. You must never know things you couldn't possibly know. It makes people upset

1061. Knowledge is just opinion that you trust enough to act upon. -Children of the Mind

1074. (Regarding humans.) They never know anything. They don't have enough years in their little lives to come to an understanding of anything at all. And yet they think they understand. From earliest childhood, they delude themselves into thinking they comprehend the world, while all that's really going on is that they've got some primitive assumptions and prejudices. As they get older they learn a more elevated vocabulary in which to express their mindless pseudo-knowledge and bully other people into accepting their prejudices as if they were truth, but it all amounts to the same thing. Individually, human beings are all dolts.

1089. I want to understand everything,' said Miro. 'I want to know everything and put it all together to see what it means.' 'Excellent project,' she [Jane] said. 'It will look very good on your resume. (Speaker for the Dead) Conversation between Miro and Jane.

1108. The criminal misuse of time was pointing out the mistakes. Catching them - noticing them - that was essential. If you did not in your own mind distinguish between useful and erroneous information, then you were not learning at all, you were merely replacing ignorance with false belief, which was no improvement.

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