Worldly Knowledge Quotes

Knowledge of self ought to be the great project of our lives. Knowing ourselves we will know others. Only by knowing ourselves can we begin to undo the madness we unleash on the world in our wars, our destruction of the environment, our divisions, our desire to dominate others, the poverty we create and exploit. Only through self-knowledge can we reverse the damage we do with all the worldly knowledge we have, which has been only a higher ignorance. ~ Ben Okri

Knowledge is power, as some say. But on some days it is just as much pain and confusion as it is power; and any wise man worth his salt as a wise man at least understands this. One may be able to comprehend all the human perspectives in the universe, but this gives more to decipher regarding what is actually true; and even after discovering the truth, the challenge is in maintaining a patience for the infinite number of opinions that do not reflect that truth. Its consistency in man is challenge. A worldly knowledge ends at the former challenge of confusion, but the knowledge of Christ ends at the latter challenge of patience. ~ Criss Jami

When you're with the people who are of this world only, either keep silent, ignore them, or talk to them of worldly matters, excel them in their worldly knowledge, yet hold their worldliness in contempt in the silences of your soul.
Better off not meeting them at all. ~ Ben Caesar

Circumstances can change through worldly knowledge (ignorance of the self, the Soul) and also through (true) knowledge (realization of the self). With ignorance, circumstances will bring entanglements and with (true) knowledge, circumstances will bring solutions. (True) Knowledge itself changes circumstances. Is God likely to come down and do so? ~ Dada Bhagwan

He was again showing recklessness in giving voice to these spasmodic outbursts of worldly knowledge. The champagne perhaps caused this intermittent pulling aside of the curtain that concealed some, apparently considerable, volume of practical information about unlikely people: a little storehouse, the existence of which he was normally unwilling to admit, yet preserved safely at the back of his mind in case of need. ~ Anthony Powell

Worldly knowledge (laukik gnan) is understood through the intellect (buddhi). Knowledge of that which is beyond the world (alaukik gnan) cannot be understood through the intellect. That is understood through 'Gnan' [Knowledge of the Real Self]. ~ Dada Bhagwan

This worldly knowledge is not called (Real) Knowledge. It is worldly knowledge. The scriptural knowledge is known as the instrumental knowledge. The knowledge about the goal [to attain Pure Soul] is Real 'Knowledge'. Scriptures themselves are the instruments and the knowledge within the scriptures is also an instrument; whereas, the 'knowledge' of the Self is the goal [to attain Pure Soul]! ~ Dada Bhagwan

In a very real sense my science does inform my knowledge of God. If you would allow me to say that we never know God, because if I claim that I know God, I know something other than God, because God is not knowable, he is unknowable. So we have to approach it in that sense first, that my knowledge of God is always limited. ~ George Coyne

There has been a controversy started of late, much better worth examination, concerning the general foundation of Morals; whether they be derived from Reason, or from Sentiment; whether we attain the knowledge of them by a chain of argument and induction, or by an immediate feeling and finer internal sense; whether, like all sound judgement of truth and falsehood, they should be the same to every rational intelligent being; or whether, like the perception of beauty and deformity, they be founded entirely on the particular fabric and constitution of the human species. ~ David Hume

If you love everyone, how could you find an enemy? ~ Debasish Mridha

Our knowledge is very limited; because Nature, too, is shy and slow in our clumsy hands. Some day all this will be better organized, and still better. ~ H.G.Wells

In any case, in so far as our knowledge of the universe carries us, the advent of civilization for the first time on our globe represents the highest ascent of the life processes to which evolution had anywhere attained. ~ James Henry Breasted

[J]uvenile delinquent' is a contradiction in terms. 'Delinquent' means 'failing in duty.' But duty is an adult virtue
indeed a juvenile becomes an adult when, and only when, he acquires a knowledge and duty and embraces it more than the self-love he was born with. ~ Robert A. Heinlein

We are spirits. That bodies should be lent us while they afford us pleasure, assist us in acquiring knowledge or in doing good to our fellow-creatures, is a kind of benevolent act of God. When they become unfit for these purposes and afford us pain instead of pleasure, instead of an aid become an encumbrance and answer none of these intentions for which they were given, it is equally kind and benevolent that a way is provided by which we get rid of them. Death is that way. ~ Benjamin Franklin

An optimist sees the miracles and beauty of life and a pessimist sees the sufferings and wonders, where is the life? ~ Debasish Mridha

Sometimes I wonder if there's things we'll never explain. You know, like, you know, what if we did answer all the questions? You know, would we live on, like forever, happy with our triumph over ignorance? Or is ignorance just a common enemy that once destroyed, would leave our species without a reason to carry on? I guess it doesn't matter what the answer is...because even if supreme knowledge did bring about the end of our species, the thought of obtaining it is just what would keep us together. You know? People will always look up at the sky...and just wonder why we're here. WATER BISON POWERS, ACTIVATE! ~ Michael J. Caboose

You may judge others only according to your knowledge of yourself. ~ Kahlil Gibran

That Muhammad could predict certain events does not prove that he was a prophet: he may have been able to guess successfully, but this does not mean that he had real knowledge of the future. And certainly the fact that he was able to recount events from the past does not prove that he was a prophet, because he could have read about those events in the Bible and, if he was illiterate, he could still have had the Bible read to him. ~ Muhammad Al Warraq

Definitions from Mulla Do-Piaza
Flattery:
One of the most promising of businesses: always brisk. ~ Idries Shah

A saint is not to take the initiative toward self-realization, but toward knowing Jesus Christ. A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him. ~ Oswald Chambers

For the Christian, humility is absolutely indispensable. Without it there can be no self-knowledge, no repentance, no faith and no salvation. ~ Aiden Wilson Tozer

Rest in the knowledge that God is both abundantly gracious and ridiculously generous. ~ Jared Brock

Science and religion ... are friends, not foes, in the common quest for knowledge. Some people may find this surprising, for there's a feeling throughout our society that religious belief is outmoded, or downright impossible, in a scientific age. I don't agree. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that if people in this so-called 'scientific age' knew a bit more about science than many of them actually do, they'd find it easier to share my views. ~ John Polkinghorne

Love is the best wisdom.
Kindness is the best philosophy. ~ Debasish Mridha

I know you regret the purchase, but there are worse places for him to be."
Kestrel realized that she no longer did regret the purchase and frowned. What kind of person had she become, to feel that way?
"I gave him house privileges," she said, knowing that her tone was defensive. "He also often serves as my escort into the city."
Enai swallowed some syrup and made a face. "Yes, I heard from the others. Does society talk about it?"
"About what?"
"About Smith. Does society talk about him appearing as your escort?"
"Not to my knowledge. There was some gossip about the price I paid for him, but everyone's forgotten that."
"That may be, but I would think he'd still draw attention."
Kestrel searched the woman's face. "Enai, what are you trying to say? Why would people talk about him?"
Enai studied the very plain syrup pot. Finally, she said, "Because of how he looks."
"Oh." Kestrel was relieved. "Once he's dressed in house attire he doesn't appear so rough. He holds himself well." This thought seemed ready to give rise to other thoughts, but she shook her head. "No, I don't think he would give anyone cause to complain about his appearance."
Enai said, "I'm sure you're right."
Kestrel had the sense that the woman's words were less an agreement than a decision to let some unspoken matter drop. ~ Marie Rutkoski

The sun will rise tomorrow morning; I know that perfectly well. But figuring out how I could know it is, as Hume pointed out, a bit of a puzzle. ~ Jerry A. Fodor

The break from the supposedly culturally-narrow religious bases of knowledge in favor of supposedly trans-cultural scientific bases of knowledge served as the self-justification of a particularly pernicious form of cultural imperialism. ~ Immanuel Wallerstein

For of what use is existence to the creature if it cannot know its Maker? How could men be reasonable beings if they had no knowledge of the Word and Reason of the Father, through Whom they had received their being? They would be no better than the beasts, had they no knowledge save of earthly things; and why should God have made them at all, if He had not intended them to know Him? But, in fact, the good God has given them a share in His own Image, that is, in our Lord Jesus Christ, and has made even themselves after the same Image and Likeness. Why? Simply in order that through this gift of Godlikeness in themselves they may be able to perceive the Image Absolute, that is the Word Himself, and through Him to apprehend the Father; which knowledge of their Maker is for men the only really happy and blessed life. ~ Athanasius Of Alexandria

The myth identifies the beginning of human history with an act of choice, but it puts all emphasis on the sinfulness of this first act of freedom and the suffering resulting from it. Man and woman live in the Garden of Eden in complete harmony with each other and with nature. There is peace and no necessity to work; there is no choice, no freedom, no thinking either, Man is forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He acts against God's command, he breaks through the state of harmony with nature of which he is a part without transcending it. From the standpoint of the Church which represented authority, this is essentially sin. From the standpoint of man, however, this is the beginning of human freedom. Acting against God's orders means freeing himself from coercion, emerging from the unconscious existence of prehuman life to the level of man. Acting against the command of authority, committing a sin, is in its positive human aspect the first act of freedom, that is, the first human act. In the myth the sin in its formal aspect is the acting against God's command; in its material aspect it is the eating of the tree of knowledge. The act of disobedience as an act of freedom is the beginning of reason. The myth speaks of other consequences of the first act of freedom. The original harmony between man and nature is broken. God proclaims war between man and woman, and war between nature and man, Man has become separate from nature, he has taken the first step ~ Erich Fromm

The Indians' botanical knowledge is disappearing even faster than the plants themselves. ~ Richard Evans Schultes

Everyone is talking about sustainability and resilience, yet all that knowledge is thrown in the bin. [Lagos is] a unique case, but also a test case. It's unbelievably unique, but also it's now considered with a number of really generic opinions, generic solution, generic expectations. ~ Rem Koolhaas

It was the anonymity. He wanted to be unknown, unpossessed by others' knowledge of him. That was freedom. ~ Ling Ma

History is for human self-knowledge. Knowing yourself means knowing, first, what it is to be a person; secondly, knowing what it is to be the kind of person you are; and thirdly, knowing what it is to be the person you are and nobody else is. Knowing yourself means knowing what you can do; and since nobody knows what they can do until they try, the only clue to what man can do is what man has done. The value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is. ~ Robin G. Collingwood

To know how to dissemble is the knowledge of kings.
[Fr., Savoir dissimuler est le savoir des rois.] ~ Cardinal Richelieu

Whatever study tends neither directly nor indirectly to make us better men and citizens is at best but a specious and ingenious sort of idleness; and the knowledge we acquire by it only a creditable kind of ignorance, nothing more. ~ Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke

Film is universal. All the countries of the world are making films. Hollywood is the only major unsubsidized center for films. To my knowledge all others are at least partially subsidized. I'm glad Hollywood isn't. ~ Frank Capra

I love you as a river loves the sea;
my every cell longing for you not me. ~ Debasish Mridha

Knowledge, Action and Devotion are complementary to each other. ~ Pandurang Shastri Athavale

Neglect of mathematics work injury to all knowledge, since he who is ignorant of it cannot know the other sciences or things of this world. And what is worst, those who are thus ignorant are unable to perceive their own ignorance, and so do not seek a remedy. ~ Roger Bacon

I was four years old when my mother died. It's young enough that I might never think of her. Old enough that the knowledge would always be with me. And I don't. And it is. ~ Naomi Alderman

Knowledge," Tara replied, turning a page as quietly as she could manage, "is power. ~ Max Gladstone

A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack. ~ Frank Oz

Intuitive knowledge is an illumination of the soul, whereby it beholds in the light of God those things which it pleases Him to reveal to us by a direct impression of divine clearness. ~ Rene Descartes

For those who have obtained unobstructed knowledge of Self, the world is seen merely as a bondage causing imagination. ~ Ramana Maharshi

Throughout history, independent minds have carried mankind forward. Whether they identified how to make fire or manufacture tools, develop rational philosophy or create man-glorifying art, pioneer scientific knowledge or invent the electric light, independent thinkers have created the goods on which human life and prosperity depend. ~ Andrew Bernstein

As knowledge grew, fear decreased; men thought less of worshiping the unknown, and more of overcoming it. ~ Will Durant

I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure - that is all that agnosticism means. ~ Clarence Darrow

When it came to hiding, even Gwin had nothing to teach Dustfinger. A strange sense of curiosity had always driven him to explore the hidden, forgotten corners of this and any other place, and all that knowledge had now come in useful. ~ Cornelia Funke

Nonjudgmental love never hurt you.
Judgmental love always does. ~ Debasish Mridha

you speak the truth. Much will be lost. I know it. The lesser knowledge must be given to gain the greater. And not once only. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin

The divine Ground of all existence is a spiritual Absolute, ineffable in terms of discursive thought, but (in certain circumstances) susceptible of being directly experienced and realized by the human being. This Absolute is the God-without-form of Hindu and Christian mystical phraseology. The last end of man, the ultimate reason for human existence, is unitive knowledge of the divine Ground - the knowledge that can come only to those who are prepared to "Die to self" and so make room, as it were, for God. ~ Aldous Huxley

Decision and purpose directed actions define destination. ~ Debasish Mridha

Both his voice and eyes had the burning cold of alcohol. His strength no longer lay in his military experience or his knowledge of the map, but in his harsh, impetuous soul. ~ Vasily Grossman