We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that we know so much, and still more astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power.

Bertrand Russell
We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that...
We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that...
We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that...
We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that...
About This Quote

This quote is attributed to the French historian and philosopher, Marie de Gournay (1621-1695). She was a prominent figure of the Enlightenment and a professor at the Sorbonne. She was also an intellectual and a feminist who fought for the emancipation of women. Her ideas on education were revolutionary for her time, as she believed that children should be educated as individuals instead of as conformists. This quote is thought to highlight some of those beliefs.

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More Quotes By Bertrand Russell
  1. Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.

  2. To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already 3-parts dead.

  3. Those who have never known the deep intimacy and the intense companionship of happy mutual love have missed the best thing that life has to give.

  4. Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean...

  5. Remember your humanity, and forget the rest.

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