--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Knowledge is power only if man knows what…" description: "\"Knowledge is power only if man knows what facts not to bother with.\" — Robert Staughton Lynd" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/389/robert-staughton-lynd-36862_bother_knowledge-is-power-only-if-man-knows-wha_1429767.jpg" --- # Knowledge is power only if man knows what facts not to… ![“Knowledge is power only if man knows what facts not to bother with.” quote by Robert Staughton Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/389/robert-staughton-lynd-36862_bother_knowledge-is-power-only-if-man-knows-wha_1429767.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/389/robert-staughton-lynd-36862_bother_knowledge-is-power-only-if-man-knows-wha_1429767.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/389/robert-staughton-lynd-36862_bother_knowledge-is-power-only-if-man-knows-wha_1429767.jpg) > “Knowledge is power only if man knows what facts not to bother with.” [Robert Staughton Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-staughton-lynd/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Power comes from knowledge, but only when we discern which facts are essential and which are irrelevant. **In simple terms:** Power is knowledge, but only useful facts matter. Key Takeaway Focus on essential information for effective power. Themes knowledge power critical thinking Mood analytical thoughtful pragmatic Type philosophical inspirational reflective When to use this quote - policy making - research - education - media analysis Key Concepts information theory epistemology political science Questions to Reflect On - Which facts can you ignore to see the bigger picture? - How do you decide what information is vital? A Different Perspective Overwhelming data can obscure key insights. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bother](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bother/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Facts Bother](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts-bother-1865431/) [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Knowledge is power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge-is-power/) [Knowledge Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge-power/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Knows Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows-facts-5087025/) [Man Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-knows/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) ## Related quotes > [If Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier. But it is not. We cannot compete, in simplicity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/if-christianity-was-something-we-were-making-up-of-course-we-could-2/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [“Of course anyone can be simple if he has no facts to bother about.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/of-course-anyone-can-be-simple-if-he-has-no-facts-to-bother-about/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [Knowledge is power. Information is power. The secreting or hoarding of knowledge or information may be an act of tyranny camouflaged as humility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-morgan/knowledge-is-power-information-is-power-the-secreting-or-hoarding-of/) [Robin Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-morgan/) > [“Knowledge is power, but how you use that power defines whether you're good, or evil.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-jackson/knowledge-is-power-but-how-you-use-that-power-defines-whether-you-re/) [Daniel Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-jackson/) > [Knowledge is power-and power of one sort or another is the secret lust of human souls; and here is, beside the sense of exploration,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-sheridan-le-fanu/knowledge-is-power-and-power-of-one-sort-or-another-is-the-secret/) [Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-sheridan-le-fanu/) > [Some say knowledge is power, but that is not true. Character is power.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sathya-sai-baba/some-say-knowledge-is-power-but-that-is-not-true-character-is-power/) [Sathya Sai Baba](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sathya-sai-baba/) > [I am convinced that knowledge is power - to overcome the past, to change our own situations, to fight new obstacles, to make better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-am-convinced-that-knowledge-is-power-to-overcome-the-past-to-change/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Knowledge is Power, Power provides Information; Information leads to Education, Education breeds Wisdom; Wisdom is Liberation. 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Knowledge slowly builds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/it-is-a-common-sentence-that-knowledge-is-power-but-who-hath-duly/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Knowledge is power and enthusiasm pulls the switch.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-droke/knowledge-is-power-and-enthusiasm-pulls-the-switch/) [Steve Droke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-droke/) > [Knowledge is power...knowled ge is safety...knowle dge is happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/knowledge-is-power-knowled-ge-is-safety-knowle-dge-is-happiness/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-boyce/knowledge-is-power-knowledge-shared-is-power-multiplied/) [Robert Boyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-boyce/) ## More by Robert Staughton Lynd > [There are some people who want to throw their arms round you simply because it is Christmas; there are other people who want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/there-are-some-people-who-want-to-throw-their-arms-round-you-simply/) [Robert Staughton Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-staughton-lynd/) > [Most of us can remember a time when a birthday - especially if it was one's own - brightened the world as if a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/most-of-us-can-remember-a-time-when-a-birthday-especially-if-it-was/) [Robert Staughton Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-staughton-lynd/) > [Any of us can achieve virtue, if by virtue we merely mean the avoidance of the vices that do not attract us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/any-of-us-can-achieve-virtue-if-by-virtue-we-merely-mean-the/) [Robert Staughton Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-staughton-lynd/) > [Every man of genius is considerably helped by being dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/every-man-of-genius-is-considerably-helped-by-being-dead/) [Robert Staughton Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-staughton-lynd/) > [ \[History is\] the story of the magnificent rear-guard action fought during several thousand years by dogma against curiosity. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/history-is-the-story-of-the-magnificent-rear-guard-action-fought/) [Robert Staughton Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-staughton-lynd/) > [When the last Puritan has disappeared from the earth, the man of science will take his place as a killjoy, and we shall be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/when-the-last-puritan-has-disappeared-from-the-earth-the-man-of/) [Robert Staughton Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-staughton-lynd/) > [Cut quarrels out of literature, and you will have very little history or drama or fiction or epic poetry left.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/cut-quarrels-out-of-literature-and-you-will-have-very-little-history/) [Robert Staughton Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-staughton-lynd/) > [Most remarks that are worth making are commonplace remarks. The things that makes them worth saying is that we really mean them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/most-remarks-that-are-worth-making-are-commonplace-remarks-the-things/) [Robert Staughton Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-staughton-lynd/) > [I sometimes suspect that half our difficulties are imaginary and that if we kept quiet about them they would disappear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/i-sometimes-suspect-that-half-our-difficulties-are-imaginary-and-that/) [Robert Staughton Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-staughton-lynd/) > [The telephone is the greatest nuisance among conveniences, the greatest convenience among nuisances.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/the-telephone-is-the-greatest-nuisance-among-conveniences-the/) [Robert Staughton Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-staughton-lynd/) > [Friendship is not going to stand the pressure of greatly great guidance for quite extensive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/friendship-is-not-going-to-stand-the-pressure-of-greatly-great/) [Robert Staughton Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-staughton-lynd/) [Explore all 12 Robert Staughton Lynd quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-staughton-lynd/) ## More Bother quotes > [ Brad \[Dourif\] would tell himself that he was not intentionally trying to mimic Jack Nicholson in any way. 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And so that's why Trump's tone doesn't bother me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-jeffress/i-ve-said-i-want-the-meanest-toughest-sob-i-can-find-to-protect/) [Robert Jeffress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-jeffress/) > [I was a loner as a child. I had an imaginary friend - I didn't bother with him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-carlin/i-was-a-loner-as-a-child-i-had-an-imaginary-friend-i-didn-t-bother/) [George Carlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-carlin/) > [This hype word bothers me though It always sounds like an accusation, what does it mean, advertising, column inches in the press? Bands themselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/holly-johnson/this-hype-word-bothers-me-though-it-always-sounds-like-an-accusation/) [Holly Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/holly-johnson/) > [Our students wanted to know everything: but only the newest theory seemed to them worth bothering with. 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All that celebrity tagging doesn't bother me at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-price/people-are-people-all-that-celebrity-tagging-doesn-t-bother-me-at-all/) [Katie Price](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katie-price/) [Browse all 1,604 Bother quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bother/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Knowledge is power only if man knows what facts not to bother with.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Staughton Lynd" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/knowledge-is-power-only-if-man-knows-what-facts-not-to-bother-with/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bother" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/knowledge-is-power-only-if-man-knows-what-facts-not-to-bother-with/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/389/robert-staughton-lynd-36862_bother_knowledge-is-power-only-if-man-knows-wha_1429767.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/389/robert-staughton-lynd-36862_bother_knowledge-is-power-only-if-man-knows-wha_1429767.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/389/robert-staughton-lynd-36862_bother_knowledge-is-power-only-if-man-knows-wha_1429767.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Knowledge is power only if man knows what facts not to bother with.” — Robert Staughton Lynd", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Robert Staughton Lynd", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-staughton-lynd/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Knowledge is power only if man...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/knowledge-is-power-only-if-man-knows-what-facts-not-to-bother-with/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-staughton-lynd/knowledge-is-power-only-if-man-knows-what-facts-not-to-bother-with/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```