The death of an elderly man is like a burning library.

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

The most crucial use of knowledge and education is to understand the importance of developing a good heart.

The knowledge and skills you have achieved are meant to be forgotten so you can float comfortably in emptiness, without obstruction.

The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall.

When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.

To furnish the means of acquiring knowledge is the greatest benefit that can be conferred upon mankind. It prolongs life itself and enlarges the sphere of human existence.

As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate more lovingly, our own.

I keep six honest serving men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who.

There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of physic. A man’s own observation, what he finds good of and what he finds hurt of, is the best physic to preserve health.

The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.