Quote by Daniel J. Boorstin

I have observed that the world has suffered far less from ignorance than from pretensions to knowledge. It is not skeptics or explorers but fanatics and ideologues who menace decency and progress. No agnostic ever burned anyone at the stake or tortured a pagan, a heretic, or an unbeliever.

I have observed that the world has suffered far less from ig

Summary

This quote suggests that the world faces greater harm from those who claim to have absolute knowledge rather than from those who question or explore different perspectives. The speaker argues that fanatics and ideologues, driven by an unwavering belief in their own knowledge, pose a threat to decency and progress. By highlighting historical atrocities committed by staunch believers, such as burning people at the stake or torturing those who hold divergent views, the quote implies that embracing uncertainty, like agnostics, can lead to a more peaceful and tolerant world.

Topics

Knowledge

By Daniel J. Boorstin

Liked the quote? Share it with your friends.

Random Quotations

People will always have an opinion, but you have to live lif

People will always have an opinion, but you have to live life the way you want to. It's very easy to tell others what to do, but difficult to implement it on yourself.

Marriage is like a violin. After the music is over, you stil

Marriage is like a violin. After the music is over, you still have the strings.

Marriage

It seems to make an auto driver mad if he misses you.

It seems to make an auto driver mad if he misses you.

Driving

The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for

The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species. It may be a long farewell, but it has begun and, like all farewells, should not be protracted.

Christopher Hitchens

Farewell

Fate has carried me'Mid the thick arrows: I will keep my sta

Fate has carried me'Mid the thick arrows: I will keep my stand--Not shrink and let the shaft pass by my breastTo pierce another.

Future

To write well, express yourself like common people, but thin

To write well, express yourself like common people, but think like a wise man. Or, think as wise men do, but speak as the common people do.

Authors & Writing

Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or acco

Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others.

Success

The world has been made by fools that men should live in it

The world has been made by fools that men should live in it

Man World

That's always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people would

That's always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people would want to be around someone because they're pretty. It's like picking your breakfast cereals based on color instead of taste.

People

We cannot command Nature except by obeying her.

We cannot command Nature except by obeying her.

Nature

Dalton's records, carefully preserved for a century, were de

Dalton's records, carefully preserved for a century, were destroyed during the World War II bombing of Manchester. It is not only the living who are killed in war.

Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what

Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.

Frederick Buechner

Knowledge