--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He who knows best knows how little he…" description: "\"He who knows best knows how little he knows.\" — Thomas Jefferson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f1/thomas-jefferson-43_quote_he-who-knows-best-knows-how-little-he-kn_1359493.jpg" --- # He who knows best knows how little he knows. ![“He who knows best knows how little he knows.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f1/thomas-jefferson-43_quote_he-who-knows-best-knows-how-little-he-kn_1359493.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f1/thomas-jefferson-43_quote_he-who-knows-best-knows-how-little-he-kn_1359493.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f1/thomas-jefferson-43_quote_he-who-knows-best-knows-how-little-he-kn_1359493.jpg) > “He who knows best knows how little he knows.” [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Acknowledges that true wisdom includes recognizing the limits of one's knowledge. **In simple terms:** Knowing little is part of knowing. Key Takeaway Stay humble and keep learning. Themes wisdom humility knowledge Mood thoughtful serious Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - education - leadership - personal growth Key Concepts epistemology self‑awareness Questions to Reflect On - What do you not know that you should learn? - How does humility affect decision‑making? A Different Perspective May discourage confidence in expertise. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) ## Related quotes > [One knows so little. When one knows more it is too late.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agatha-christie/one-knows-so-little-when-one-knows-more-it-is-too-late/) [Agatha Christie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agatha-christie/) > [He knows so little and knows it so fluently.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-glasgow/he-knows-so-little-and-knows-it-so-fluently/) [Ellen Glasgow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-glasgow/) > [“A real professional is the one who knows how little he knows.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-wiltshire/a-real-professional-is-the-one-who-knows-how-little-he-knows/) Jack Wiltshire > [He who best knows the world will love it least.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/he-who-best-knows-the-world-will-love-it-least/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [I took a step back and was like, 'All right, well, if I want to be the best, then I've got to know what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alvin-kamara/i-took-a-step-back-and-was-like-all-right-well-if-i-want-to-be-the/) [Alvin Kamara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alvin-kamara/) > [He travels best that knows when to return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/he-travels-best-that-knows-when-to-return/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“A wise man knows how little he knows and upon his death he drinks wisdom from an empty cup.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-tarttelin/a-wise-man-knows-how-little-he-knows-and-upon-his-death-he-drinks/) John Tarttelin > [No man should escape our universities without knowing how little he knows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/no-man-should-escape-our-universities-without-knowing-how-little-he/) [J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/) > [Reputation is generally proof of how little one knows about a person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wes-fesler/reputation-is-generally-proof-of-how-little-one-knows-about-a-person/) [Wes Fesler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wes-fesler/) > [Only a few know, how much one must know to know how little one knows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-heisenberg/only-a-few-know-how-much-one-must-know-to-know-how-little-one-knows/) [Werner Heisenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-heisenberg/) > [as one grows older, one realizes how little one knows about any relationship, or even about oneself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/as-one-grows-older-one-realizes-how-little-one-knows-about-any/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [One never realizes how much and how little he knows until he starts talking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-l-amour/one-never-realizes-how-much-and-how-little-he-knows-until-he-starts/) [Louis L'Amour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-l-amour/) > [The more one gardens, the more one learns; And the more one learns, the more one realizes how little one knows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vita-sackville-west/the-more-one-gardens-the-more-one-learns-and-the-more-one-learns-the/) [Vita Sackville-West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vita-sackville-west/) > [As anyone who has the slightest knowledge of my work knows, I have little in common with Larkin, who was tall, taciturn and thin-on-top,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/as-anyone-who-has-the-slightest-knowledge-of-my-work-knows-i-have/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [It is the individual who knows how little they know about themselves who stands the most reasonable chance of finding out something about themselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-i-hayakawa/it-is-the-individual-who-knows-how-little-they-know-about-themselves/) [S. I. Hayakawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-i-hayakawa/) ## More by Thomas Jefferson > [A man has a right to use a saw, an axe, a plane, separately; may he not combine their uses on the same piece…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-man-has-a-right-to-use-a-saw-an-axe-a-plane-separately-may-he-not/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/believing-with-you-that-religion-is-a-matter-which-lies-solely/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [ \[States and the Federal government are\] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/states-and-the-federal-government-are-coordinate-departments-of-one/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/i-am-for-freedom-of-religion-and-against-all-maneuvers-to-bring-about/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/single-acts-of-tyranny-may-be-ascribed-to-the-accidental-opinion-of-a/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“Perceiving the order of nature to be that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue, I am willing to hope it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/perceiving-the-order-of-nature-to-be-that-individual-happiness-shall/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/free-government-is-founded-in-jealousy-and-not-in-confidence-it-is/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/though-you-cannot-see-when-you-take-one-step-what-will-be-the-next/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-well-informed-citizenry-is-the-best-defense-against-tyranny/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded are justice and fear. After the injuries we have done them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-two-principles-on-which-our-conduct-towards-the-indians-should-be/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [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/) > [There is... an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/there-is-an-artificial-aristocracy-founded-on-wealth-and-birth/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Nothing but free argument, raillery and even ridicule will preserve the purity of religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/nothing-but-free-argument-raillery-and-even-ridicule-will-preserve/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/when-the-people-are-afraid-of-the-government-that-s-tyranny-but-when/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/we-hold-these-truths-to-be-self-evident-that-all-men-are-created/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Explore all 2,098 Thomas Jefferson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) ## 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": "He who knows best knows how little he knows.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/he-who-knows-best-knows-how-little-he-knows/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ignorance" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/he-who-knows-best-knows-how-little-he-knows/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f1/thomas-jefferson-43_quote_he-who-knows-best-knows-how-little-he-kn_1359493.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f1/thomas-jefferson-43_quote_he-who-knows-best-knows-how-little-he-kn_1359493.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f1/thomas-jefferson-43_quote_he-who-knows-best-knows-how-little-he-kn_1359493.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“He who knows best knows how little he knows.” — Thomas Jefferson", "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": "Thomas Jefferson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "He who knows best knows how...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/he-who-knows-best-knows-how-little-he-knows/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/he-who-knows-best-knows-how-little-he-knows/#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 } } ] } ```