--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Like all males, he hated to confess…" description: "\"“Like all males, he hated to confess ignorance by asking directions,”\" — Sinclair Lewis" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/576/sinclair-lewis-1945_ignorance_like-all-males-he-hated-to-confess-ignor_175690.png" --- # Like all males, he hated to confess ignorance by asking… ![“Like all males, he hated to confess ignorance by asking directions,” quote by Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/576/sinclair-lewis-1945_ignorance_like-all-males-he-hated-to-confess-ignor_175690.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/576/sinclair-lewis-1945_ignorance_like-all-males-he-hated-to-confess-ignor_175690.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/576/sinclair-lewis-1945_ignorance_like-all-males-he-hated-to-confess-ignor_175690.png) > ““Like all males, he hated to confess ignorance by asking directions,”” [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Men often avoid admitting ignorance, fearing loss of status. **In simple terms:** Men fear asking for help. Key Takeaway Embrace humility in learning. Themes gender humility communication Mood reflective humorous Type observational philosophical When to use this quote - workplace - travel - education Key Concepts ego social norms Questions to Reflect On - When did you ask for directions? - How does pride affect learning? A Different Perspective May overgeneralize all males. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Asking Directions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asking-directions-1731139/) [Confess Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/confess-ignorance-1891695/) [Hated Confess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hated-confess-1891698/) [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) [Ignorance Asking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance-asking-1891696/) [Males Hated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/males-hated-1891697/) ## Related quotes > [Good Friend; Will come and get you if you call to say you're lost. Best Friend; Will call you an idiot for not asking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/good-friend-will-come-and-get-you-if-you-call-to-say-you-re-lost-best/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Stop asking for directions so much. Assuming that you're in a safe environment, pay attention and figure things out for yourself. Have the nerve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-vos-savant/stop-asking-for-directions-so-much-assuming-that-you-re-in-a-safe/) [Marilyn vos Savant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-vos-savant/) > [Nor am I ashamed, as some are, to confess my ignorance of those matters with which I am unacquainted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-tullius-cicero/nor-am-i-ashamed-as-some-are-to-confess-my-ignorance-of-those-matters/) [Marcus Tullius Cicero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-tullius-cicero/) > [To confess ignorance is often wiser than to beat about the bush with a hypothetical diagnosis.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-osler/to-confess-ignorance-is-often-wiser-than-to-beat-about-the-bush-with/) [William Osler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-osler/) > [It is better to confess ignorance than provide it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/homer-hickam/it-is-better-to-confess-ignorance-than-provide-it/) [Homer Hickam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/homer-hickam/) > [The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/confucius/the-essence-of-knowledge-is-having-it-to-apply-it-not-having-it-to/) [Confucius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/confucius/) > [“To free a man from error is not to deprive him of anything but to give him something: for the knowledge that a thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-schopenhauer/to-free-a-man-from-error-is-not-to-deprive-him-of-anything-but-to/) [Arthur Schopenhauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-schopenhauer/) > [Say oh wise man how you have come to such knowledge? Because I was never ashamed to confess my ignorance and ask others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-gottfried-herder/say-oh-wise-man-how-you-have-come-to-such-knowledge-because-i-was/) [Johann Gottfried Herder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-gottfried-herder/) > [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/) > [“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/) > [... 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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [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/) ## More by Sinclair Lewis > [“She found beauty in the children.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/she-found-beauty-in-the-children/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [What is Love? Listen! It is the rainbow that stands out, in all its glorious many-colored hues, illuminating and making glad again the dark…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/what-is-love-listen-it-is-the-rainbow-that-stands-out-in-all-its/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [When you think that most of us are doomed by divine grace to roast in hell, to say nothing of mortgages and hail and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/when-you-think-that-most-of-us-are-doomed-by-divine-grace-to-roast-in/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [He loved the people just as much as he feared and detested persons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/he-loved-the-people-just-as-much-as-he-feared-and-detested-persons/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“He had expected that traditionally Republican Vermont would give him too drearily easy a task in preaching Trowbridge. What he found was a dismaying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/he-had-expected-that-traditionally-republican-vermont-would-give-him/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“Day on day he waited. So much of a revolution for so many people is nothing but waiting. That is one reason why tourists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/day-on-day-he-waited-so-much-of-a-revolution-for-so-many-people-is/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“She continued it to Hugh, 'Darling, do you know what mother and you are going to find beyond the blue horizon rim?' 'What?' flatly.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/she-continued-it-to-hugh-darling-do-you-know-what-mother-and-you-are/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [Is it possible that nobody has ever known that there never has been a completely civilized man, and won't be for another thousand years?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/is-it-possible-that-nobody-has-ever-known-that-there-never-has-been-a/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“I think perhaps we want a more conscientious life. We're tired of drudging and sleeping and dying. We're tired of always deferring hope to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/i-think-perhaps-we-want-a-more-conscientious-life-we-re-tired-of/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [It might be the doing of Satan, in whom Aaron anxiously believed with all of his being except, perhaps, his mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/it-might-be-the-doing-of-satan-in-whom-aaron-anxiously-believed-with/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“The author says one character's definition of a classic is any book he'd heard of before he was thirty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/the-author-says-one-character-s-definition-of-a-classic-is-any-book/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [Winter is not a season, it's an occupation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/winter-is-not-a-season-it-s-an-occupation/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“Author sees the "congested idealism" of the generally discontent as reservoir that will support centralized power even while disagreeing with many specific provisions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/author-sees-the-congested-idealism-of-the-generally-discontent-as/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“The poor we have always with us, and the purpose of the Lord in providing the poor is to enable us of the better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/the-poor-we-have-always-with-us-and-the-purpose-of-the-lord-in/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [Writing is just work-there's no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type or write with your toes-it's still just work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/writing-is-just-work-there-s-no-secret-if-you-dictate-or-use-a-pen-or/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) [Explore all 196 Sinclair Lewis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) ## 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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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": "“Like all males, he hated to confess ignorance by asking directions,”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sinclair Lewis" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/like-all-males-he-hated-to-confess-ignorance-by-asking-directions/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ignorance" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/like-all-males-he-hated-to-confess-ignorance-by-asking-directions/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/576/sinclair-lewis-1945_ignorance_like-all-males-he-hated-to-confess-ignor_175690.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/576/sinclair-lewis-1945_ignorance_like-all-males-he-hated-to-confess-ignor_175690.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/576/sinclair-lewis-1945_ignorance_like-all-males-he-hated-to-confess-ignor_175690.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Like all males, he hated to confess ignorance by asking directions,” — Sinclair Lewis", "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": "Sinclair Lewis", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Like all males, he hated to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/like-all-males-he-hated-to-confess-ignorance-by-asking-directions/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/like-all-males-he-hated-to-confess-ignorance-by-asking-directions/#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 } } ] } ```