And I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage. You may be proud, wise, and fine, but death will wipe you off the face of the earth as though you were no more than mice burrowing under the floor, and your posterity, your history, your immortal geniuses will burn or freeze together with the earthly globe. Anton Chekhov
About This Quote

In this quote, Thomas Aquinas is saying that much of the world’s wisdom and knowledge is worthless. The reason he was so adamant in his dislike of it was because he believed it to be a source of vanity and ego. Wisdom and knowledge did not bring happiness or comfort, but it did bring pride and an inflated sense of self-worth that could only lead to suffering and despair. It was a trap that we fall into when we learn too much because we don’t know what to do with our new found knowledge. This quote is often referred to as the lost thought, which speaks to the human tendency to forget what we really know and to get caught up in the things we think we know.

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