“I do not approve the maxim which desires a man to know a little of everything. Superficial knowledge, knowledge without principles, is almost always useless and sometimes harmful knowledge.”
—Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747), Selections from the Characters, Reflexions, and Maxims
Translated by Elizabeth Lee (Archibald Constable & Co., 1903)
How does a man 32 years of age arrive at this kind of wisdom?
Read more at Ursprache. Thanks, JforJames!
You’re right! After all, you can “know” that the black president was “really” born in … where is it? Kenya? And you can leverage that “knowledge” to run for president. But that doesn’t keep if from being “harmful knowledge,” does it?
🙂
Well, maxims are always tricky. I do know that the Marquis is dead, & I AM a principal. So, it’s not what you know, but what you do with it, eh?