Quote#Wisdom
Man had always flattered himself that he knew — or was about to know…
Quote byHenry Adams · 1838–1918
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Degradation of the Democratic Dogma (1919), The Problem, pages 148-149.
English (original)
Man had always flattered himself that he knew — or was about to know — something [...] but he invariably found [...] that the more he knew the less he understood. [...] He knew nothing at all ! No one knew anything
— Henry Adams
More from Henry Adams
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We never despised the world or its opinions, we only failed to find out its existence.
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A period of about twelve years measured the beat of the pendulum.
I turn green in bed at midnight if I think of the horror of a year's warfare in the Philippines ... We must slaughter a million or two foolish Malays in order to give them the comforts of flannel petticoats and electric railways.
Who, then, is right? How can we all be right? Half of our wise men declare that the world is going straight to perdition; the other half that it is fast becoming perfect. Both cannot be right.