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About this quote

What does it mean?
Wisdom sometimes involves choosing not to know certain things.
In plain terms
Sometimes it is wise to stay ignorant of some things.
What can you take from it?
Ignorance can be a strategic choice for wisdom.

Where it applies

  • decision making
  • mental health
  • philosophy

Putting it to work

  • select what you learn
  • avoid unnecessary details

Questions to consider

  • What should you not know?
  • Is ignorance ever good?

Another view

Ignorance can also lead to mistakes or lack of preparedness.

More from Ralph Waldo Emerson

  1. We cannot overstate our debt to the Past, but the moment has the supreme claim. The Past is for us; but the sole terms on which it can become ours are its subo…

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  2. To live without duties is obscene.

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  3. Now shall we say that only the first men were well alive, and the existing generation is invalided and degenerate? ... A more subtle and severe criticism might…

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