--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Just what should a young man or woman…" description: "\"Just what should a young man or woman know to be 'in the know'? Is there, in other words, some inside information, some special taboo, some real lowdow..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4b/alan-watts-587_existence_just-what-should-a-young-man-or-woman-kn_2190017.jpg" --- # Just what should a young man or woman know to be 'in the… ![“Just what should a young man or woman know to be 'in the know'? Is there, in other words, some inside information, some special taboo, some real lowdown on life and existence that most parents and teachers either don't know or won't tell?” quote by Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4b/alan-watts-587_existence_just-what-should-a-young-man-or-woman-kn_2190017.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4b/alan-watts-587_existence_just-what-should-a-young-man-or-woman-kn_2190017.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4b/alan-watts-587_existence_just-what-should-a-young-man-or-woman-kn_2190017.jpg) > “Just what should a young man or woman know to be 'in the know'? Is there, in other words, some inside information, some special taboo, some real lowdown on life and existence that most parents and teachers either don't know or won't tell?” [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Young people seek hidden truths and insider knowledge, but true understanding comes from questioning assumptions rather than secret info. **In simple terms:** Seek truth by questioning, not by hunting secret knowledge. Key Takeaway Cultivate curiosity and critical thinking. Themes education personal growth knowledge seeking philosophy Mood inquisitive thought‑provoking Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - classroom teaching - personal mentorship - self‑help literature - online forums Key Concepts critical inquiry self‑discovery cognitive development Questions to Reflect On - What questions can reveal deeper truths? - How can we value open inquiry over secretive knowledge? A Different Perspective Relying on “inside info” can perpetuate elitism and misinformation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Parent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parent/) [Parents and teachers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parents-and-teachers/) [Taboo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taboo/) [Teacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teacher/) ## Related quotes > [Any information about U.S. special operations forces is highly sensitive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-engel/any-information-about-u-s-special-operations-forces-is-highly/) [Richard Engel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-engel/) > [There is something about inside information which seems to paralyze a man's reasoning powers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-baruch/there-is-something-about-inside-information-which-seems-to-paralyze-a/) [Bernard Baruch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-baruch/) > [On the Internet, inside information is currency, and there will always be counterfeiters among us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-michael-straczynski/on-the-internet-inside-information-is-currency-and-there-will-always/) [J. Michael Straczynski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-michael-straczynski/) > [Right, but there's expertise and then there's inside information. And I think we have to make a distinction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-okrent/right-but-there-s-expertise-and-then-there-s-inside-information-and-i/) [Daniel Okrent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-okrent/) > [as an economics professor I am by nature inclined to the view that the truth isn't out there, it's in here - that usually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-krugman/as-an-economics-professor-i-am-by-nature-inclined-to-the-view-that/) [Paul Krugman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-krugman/) > [In some respects, inside information is a form of financial steroid. It is unfair: it is offensive; it is unlawful; and it puts a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/preet-bharara/in-some-respects-inside-information-is-a-form-of-financial-steroid-it/) [Preet Bharara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/preet-bharara/) > [Get inside information from the president and you will probably lose half of your money. If you get it from the chairman of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-rogers/get-inside-information-from-the-president-and-you-will-probably-lose/) [Jim Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-rogers/) > [There is something about inside information which seems to paralyse a man's reasoning powers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-baruch/there-is-something-about-inside-information-which-seems-to-paralyse-a/) [Bernard Baruch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-baruch/) > [Information is currency. ... Power is a place as well as a verb; it is inside the information tent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynda-obst/information-is-currency-power-is-a-place-as-well-as-a-verb-it-is/) [Lynda Obst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynda-obst/) > [The way I understand the rules on trading on inside information, it's very vague.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-a-cohen/the-way-i-understand-the-rules-on-trading-on-inside-information-it-s/) [Steven A. Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-a-cohen/) > [Sex is no longer a serious taboo. Teenagers sometimes know more about it than adults.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/sex-is-no-longer-a-serious-taboo-teenagers-sometimes-know-more-about/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [There is always something taboo, something repressed, unadmitted, or just glimpsed quickly out of the corner of one's eye because a direct look is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/there-is-always-something-taboo-something-repressed-unadmitted-or/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [...for thousands of years human history has been a magnificently futile conflict, a wonderfully staged panorama of triumphs and tragedies based on the resolute…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/for-thousands-of-years-human-history-has-been-a-magnificently-futile/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The most strongly enforced of all known taboos is the taboo against knowing who or what you really are behind the mask of your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-most-strongly-enforced-of-all-known-taboos-is-the-taboo-against/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [Ideal for the child and society in the best of times, Rudolf Steiner's brilliant process of education is critically needed and profoundly relevant now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-chilton-pearce/ideal-for-the-child-and-society-in-the-best-of-times-rudolf-steiner-s/) [Joseph Chilton Pearce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-chilton-pearce/) ## More by Alan Watts > [“The self-conscious feedback mechanism of the cortex allows us the hallucination that we are two souls in one body -a rational soul and an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-self-conscious-feedback-mechanism-of-the-cortex-allows-us-the/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The more we try to catch hold of the present moment the more elusive it becomes. It is like trying to clutch water in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-more-we-try-to-catch-hold-of-the-present-moment-the-more-elusive/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The Universe is the game of the self, which plays hide and seek forever and ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-universe-is-the-game-of-the-self-which-plays-hide-and-seek/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [If my happiness at this moment consists largely in reviewing happy memories and expectations, I am but dimly aware of this present. I shall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/if-my-happiness-at-this-moment-consists-largely-in-reviewing-happy/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [...mysticism and empiricism go together in opposition to scholasticism...they base themselves on the non-linear world of experience rather than the linear world of letters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/mysticism-and-empiricism-go-together-in-opposition-to-scholasticism/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The hallucination of being a separate ego will not stand up to biological tests.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-hallucination-of-being-a-separate-ego-will-not-stand-up-to/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [Although profoundly "inconsequential," the Zen experience has consequences in the sense that it may be applied in any direction, to any conceivable human activity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/although-profoundly-inconsequential-the-zen-experience-has/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [Everything is perpetually becoming new.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/everything-is-perpetually-becoming-new/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The psychotherapist ... tries to help the individual to be himself and to go it alone without giving unnecessary offense to his community, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-psychotherapist-tries-to-help-the-individual-to-be-himself-and-to/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [“As you make more and more powerful microscopic instruments, the universe has to get smaller and smaller in order to escape the investigation. Just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/as-you-make-more-and-more-powerful-microscopic-instruments-the/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [We are at the moment looking at space as something to be entered by the tremendous thrust of a rocket because that is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/we-are-at-the-moment-looking-at-space-as-something-to-be-entered-by/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [A philosopher is a sort of intellectual yokel who gawks at things that sensible people take for granted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/a-philosopher-is-a-sort-of-intellectual-yokel-who-gawks-at-things/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The best way to convince someone is by making him realize that what you speak came from his own mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-best-way-to-convince-someone-is-by-making-him-realize-that-what/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The myths underlying our culture and underlying our common sense have not taught us to feel identical with the universe, but only parts of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-myths-underlying-our-culture-and-underlying-our-common-sense-have/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [To feel that life is meaningless unless “I” can be permanent is like having fallen desperately in love with an inch.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/to-feel-that-life-is-meaningless-unless-i-can-be-permanent-is-like/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) [Explore all 460 Alan Watts quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) ## More Existence quotes > [Getting on the cover of TIME guarantees the existence of opposition in the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/getting-on-the-cover-of-time-guarantees-the-existence-of-opposition/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [The time that one gains cannot be accumulated in a storehouse; it is contradictory to want to save up existence, which, the fact is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/the-time-that-one-gains-cannot-be-accumulated-in-a-storehouse-it-is/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [A lot of indigenous cultures are deeply involved in working with ancestor spirits, elemental spirits, and demons. Many of these cultures feel that, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-pinchbeck/a-lot-of-indigenous-cultures-are-deeply-involved-in-working-with/) [Daniel Pinchbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-pinchbeck/) > [It does not seem to me to be sufficiently recognized everywhere among the officials that the existence or non-existence of our people and Empire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-von-hindenburg/it-does-not-seem-to-me-to-be-sufficiently-recognized-everywhere-among/) [Paul von Hindenburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-von-hindenburg/) > [Quantum physics fluctuates all the time. But now the fluctuations are not just particles coming into and out of existence, which happens all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/quantum-physics-fluctuates-all-the-time-but-now-the-fluctuations-are/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [We have a fear of facing ourselves. That is the obstacle. Experiencing the innermost core of our existence is very embarrassing to a lot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chogyam-trungpa/we-have-a-fear-of-facing-ourselves-that-is-the-obstacle-experiencing/) [Chogyam Trungpa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chogyam-trungpa/) > [One of the things I regret about not putting in that book or I think it's there but I didn't really elaborate on it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-warner/one-of-the-things-i-regret-about-not-putting-in-that-book-or-i-think/) [Brad Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-warner/) > [My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/my-mind-rebels-at-stagnation-give-me-problems-give-me-work-give-me/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [May God bless each of us in our calls to serve. May our faith strengthen as we serve in righteousness, faithfully keeping the commandments.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-tom-perry/may-god-bless-each-of-us-in-our-calls-to-serve-may-our-faith/) [L. Tom Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-tom-perry/) > [Never belong to a crowd; Never belong to a nation; Never belong to a religion; Never belong to a race. Belong to the whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/never-belong-to-a-crowd-never-belong-to-a-nation-never-belong-to-a/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/a-knowledge-of-the-existence-of-something-we-cannot-penetrate-of-the/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [Universities are the cathedrals of the modern age. They shouldn't have to justify their existence by utilitarian criteria.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lodge/universities-are-the-cathedrals-of-the-modern-age-they-shouldn-t-have/) [David Lodge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lodge/) > [Just as everybody has the vote including women, I think children should, because as a child is conscious of itself then it has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/just-as-everybody-has-the-vote-including-women-i-think-children/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [To divide one's life by years is of course to tumble into a trap set by our own arithmetic. The calendar consents to carry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifton-fadiman/to-divide-one-s-life-by-years-is-of-course-to-tumble-into-a-trap-set/) [Clifton Fadiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifton-fadiman/) > [The party in Alobar’s head, which agitation and anxiety were throwing, now was crashed by a notion: existence can be rearranged.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-party-in-alobar-s-head-which-agitation-and-anxiety-were-throwing/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) [Browse all 7,646 Existence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Just what should a young man or woman know to be 'in the know'? 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