--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is not enough that you understand in…" description: "\"“It is not enough that you understand in what ignorance man and beast live; you must also have and acquire the will to ignorance. You need to grasp tha..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a82/friedrich-nietzsche-15_ignorance_it-is-not-enough-that-you-understand-in_2426994.jpg" --- # It is not enough that you understand in what ignorance man… ![“It is not enough that you understand in what ignorance man and beast live; you must also have and acquire the will to ignorance. You need to grasp that without this kind of ignorance life itself would be impossible, that it is a condition under which alone the living thing can preserve itself and…” quote by Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a82/friedrich-nietzsche-15_ignorance_it-is-not-enough-that-you-understand-in_2426994.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a82/friedrich-nietzsche-15_ignorance_it-is-not-enough-that-you-understand-in_2426994.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a82/friedrich-nietzsche-15_ignorance_it-is-not-enough-that-you-understand-in_2426994.jpg) > ““It is not enough that you understand in what ignorance man and beast live; you must also have and acquire the will to ignorance. You need to grasp that without this kind of ignorance life itself would be impossible, that it is a condition under which alone the living thing can preserve itself and prosper: a great, firm dome of ignorance must encompass you.”” [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human existence depends on a protective veil of not‑knowing that allows life to function without being overwhelmed by total knowledge. **In simple terms:** Ignorance is a necessary shield for life. Key Takeaway Embrace healthy limits to knowledge. Themes existentialism psychology philosophy Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal growth - creative work - decision making - stress reduction Key Concepts epistemic humility survival self‑preservation Questions to Reflect On - What does “will to ignorance” mean for you? - When might seeking knowledge be harmful? A Different Perspective Ignorance can also hinder progress and critical thinking. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life itself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-itself/) ## Related quotes > [A whipper-snapper of criticism who quoted dead languages to hide his ignorance of life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-beerbohm-tree/a-whipper-snapper-of-criticism-who-quoted-dead-languages-to-hide-his/) [Herbert Beerbohm Tree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-beerbohm-tree/) > [Aside bad leadership, poor economy & lack of infrastructures, majority of the masses possessed 100% ignorance towards their own life!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/aside-bad-leadership-poor-economy-lack-of-infrastructures-majority-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Anybody can write a three-volume novel. It merely requires a complete ignorance of both life and literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/anybody-can-write-a-three-volume-novel-it-merely-requires-a-complete/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [To be free from ignorance you need knowledge. The mind should turn inward. Silence takes the mind inward and helps you to recognize who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-sri-ravi-shankar/to-be-free-from-ignorance-you-need-knowledge-the-mind-should-turn/) [Sri Sri Ravi Shankar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-sri-ravi-shankar/) > [“Good teachers understand knowledge, but brilliant teachers understand ignorance”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-wright/good-teachers-understand-knowledge-but-brilliant-teachers-understand/) Trevor Wright > [“There is no limit to the amount of intelligence invested in ignorance when the need for illusion runs deep.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/there-is-no-limit-to-the-amount-of-intelligence-invested-in-ignorance/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/a-great-deal-of-intelligence-can-be-invested-in-ignorance-when-the/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [It is impossible to make people understand their ignorance, for it requires knowledge to perceive it; and, therefore, he that can perceive it hath…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-taylor/it-is-impossible-to-make-people-understand-their-ignorance-for-it/) [Jeremy Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-taylor/) > [“In the perusal of philosophical works I have been greatly benefited by a resolve, which, in the antithetic form and with the allowed quaintness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/in-the-perusal-of-philosophical-works-i-have-been-greatly-benefited/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [“Took me a few years to understand what intelligence is; Took me an entire lifetime to understand ignorance. I still haven't found an explanation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-sacredfire/took-me-a-few-years-to-understand-what-intelligence-is-took-me-an/) [Robin Sacredfire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-sacredfire/) > [Ignorance need no introduction;it always makes itself known.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/ignorance-need-no-introduction-it-always-makes-itself-known/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The value of life itself cannot be estimated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-value-of-life-itself-cannot-be-estimated/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Here one must think profoundly to the very basis and resist all sentimental weakness: life itself is essentially appropriation, injury, conquest of the strange…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/here-one-must-think-profoundly-to-the-very-basis-and-resist-all/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Our knowledge will take its revenge on us, just as ignorance exacted its revenge during the Middle Ages.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/our-knowledge-will-take-its-revenge-on-us-just-as-ignorance-exacted/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Rodrigo tried to draw a deep breath, but his chest was too filled with anguish, rage and guilt. He kissed his ash-coated fingers. “I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-valdez/rodrigo-tried-to-draw-a-deep-breath-but-his-chest-was-too-filled-with/) [Lisa Valdez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-valdez/) ## More by Friedrich Nietzsche > [Animals know nothing of themselves, and they also know nothing of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/animals-know-nothing-of-themselves-and-they-also-know-nothing-of-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Every select man strives instinctively for a citadel and a privacy, where he is FREE from the crowd, the many, the majority-- where he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/every-select-man-strives-instinctively-for-a-citadel-and-a-privacy/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“It breaks my heart. Better than your words, your eye tells me all your peril. You are not yet free, you still search for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-breaks-my-heart-better-than-your-words-your-eye-tells-me-all-your/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“79. A soul which knows that it is loved, but does not itself love, betrays its sediment: its dregs come up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/79-a-soul-which-knows-that-it-is-loved-but-does-not-itself-love/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [We deceive ourselves when giving respect to the person for whom we have surrendered ourselves, when we respectively expect them to be as we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/we-deceive-ourselves-when-giving-respect-to-the-person-for-whom-we/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“The great periods of our life occur when we gain the courage to rechristen what is bad about us as what is best.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-great-periods-of-our-life-occur-when-we-gain-the-courage-to/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“What is life? Life - that is: continually shedding something that wants to die. Life - that is: being cruel and inexorable against everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/what-is-life-life-that-is-continually-shedding-something-that-wants/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [It is thus only this personal feeling of misery that we get rid of by acts of pity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-is-thus-only-this-personal-feeling-of-misery-that-we-get-rid-of-by/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Writers whose thoughts are expressed with clarity and precision are assumed by readers to be superficial. Where the meaning is obscured, then readers give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/writers-whose-thoughts-are-expressed-with-clarity-and-precision-are/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“he does not wear a twitching, mobile, human face, but rather a mask, as it were, with its features in dignified equilibrium; he does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/he-does-not-wear-a-twitching-mobile-human-face-but-rather-a-mask-as/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Chastity is a virtue with some, but with many it is almost a vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/chastity-is-a-virtue-with-some-but-with-many-it-is-almost-a-vice/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The earth is like the breasts of a woman: useful as well as pleasing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-earth-is-like-the-breasts-of-a-woman-useful-as-well-as-pleasing/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Of all that is written I love only what a man has written in his own blood.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/of-all-that-is-written-i-love-only-what-a-man-has-written-in-his-own/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/no-shepherd-and-one-herd-everybody-wants-the-same-everybody-is-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Pain makes hens and poets cackle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/pain-makes-hens-and-poets-cackle/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) [Explore all 3,486 Friedrich Nietzsche quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## More Ignorance quotes > [My folks tried to make a preacher of me and missed by a narrow margin… I would have made a good one if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/my-folks-tried-to-make-a-preacher-of-me-and-missed-by-a-narrow-margin/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [If you had made the acquiring of ignorance the study of your life, you could not have graduated with higher honor than you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-you-had-made-the-acquiring-of-ignorance-the-study-of-your-life-you/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-deepest-and-strangest-of-all-human-moods-is-the-mood-which/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Ignorance is not bliss — it is oblivion. Determined ignorance is the hastiest kind of oblivion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-wylie/ignorance-is-not-bliss-it-is-oblivion-determined-ignorance-is-the/) [Philip Wylie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-wylie/) > [... informed ignorance provides the natural state of mind for research scientists at the ever-shifting frontiers of knowledge. People who believe themselves ignorant of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/informed-ignorance-provides-the-natural-state-of-mind-for-research/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [“If knowledge does not liberate the self from the self, then ignorance is better than such knowledge.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hakim-sanai/if-knowledge-does-not-liberate-the-self-from-the-self-then-ignorance/) [Hakim Sanai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hakim-sanai/) > [You are senile old fool, and because of your impudence, I cannot fathom how you still live!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-are-senile-old-fool-and-because-of-your-impudence-i-cannot-fathom/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Surely, God could have caused birds to fly with their bones made of solid gold, with their veins full of quicksilver, with their flesh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/galileo-galilei/surely-god-could-have-caused-birds-to-fly-with-their-bones-made-of/) [Galileo Galilei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/galileo-galilei/) > [“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/knowledge-will-forever-govern-ignorance-and-a-people-who-mean-to-be/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [“Don’t turn your face away. Once you’ve seen, you can no longer act like you don’t know. Open your eyes to the truth. It’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vashti-quiroz-vega/don-t-turn-your-face-away-once-you-ve-seen-you-can-no-longer-act-like/) Vashti Quiroz-Vega > [Nothing is worse than active ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/nothing-is-worse-than-active-ignorance/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/the-only-victories-which-leave-no-regret-are-those-which-are-gained/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [“Those who embrace prejudice doom themselves to live in ignorance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-p-lintz-sr/those-who-embrace-prejudice-doom-themselves-to-live-in-ignorance/) John P Lintz Sr > [“You are a lawmaker in your own right.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/you-are-a-lawmaker-in-your-own-right/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [Sanity can take one of only two forms: that of ignorance, or denial.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-r-audette/sanity-can-take-one-of-only-two-forms-that-of-ignorance-or-denial/) [Derek R. Audette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-r-audette/) [Browse all 5,657 Ignorance quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It is not enough that you understand in what ignorance man and beast live; you must also have and acquire the will to ignorance. 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