Only two kinds of people can attain self-knowledge: those who are not encumbered at all with learning, that is to say, whose minds are not over-crowded with thoughts borrowed from others; and those who, after studying all the scriptures and sciences, have come to realise that they know nothing.

Ramakrishna
About This Quote

This quote is attributed to Socrates, but may have been written by the Pythagorean philosopher Philolaus of Croton, who lived in the fifth century B.C.E. It makes a profound statement about the nature of self-knowledge and its relationship to learning. Socrates said that only those who are not encumbered with learning can attain self-knowledge. The word encumbered has two meanings: (1) to be confined or chained; (2) to be hampered by or obscured by something else; (3) to be encumbered with or burdened by one's own thoughts, feelings, opinions, etc. It is easy to see how these three definitions of encumbrance can interfere with knowledge of oneself.

Source: Sayings Of Sri Ramakrishna

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