--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Modern ignorance is in people's…" description: "\"“Modern ignorance is in people's assumption that they can outsmart their own nature.”\" — Wendell Berry" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d0/wendell-berry-236_ignorance_modern-ignorance-is-in-people-s-assumpti_2088357.jpg" --- # Modern ignorance is in people's assumption that they can… ![“Modern ignorance is in people's assumption that they can outsmart their own nature.” quote by Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d0/wendell-berry-236_ignorance_modern-ignorance-is-in-people-s-assumpti_2088357.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d0/wendell-berry-236_ignorance_modern-ignorance-is-in-people-s-assumpti_2088357.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d0/wendell-berry-236_ignorance_modern-ignorance-is-in-people-s-assumpti_2088357.jpg) > ““Modern ignorance is in people's assumption that they can outsmart their own nature.”” [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. We often believe we can control or outwit innate human tendencies, but nature resists such manipulation. **In simple terms:** People think they can beat their nature, but they can’t. Key Takeaway Recognize limits of self‑control. Themes human nature hubris self‑deception Mood reflective cautious Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - personal growth - leadership - environmental policy - education - mental health Key Concepts psychology philosophy ethics Questions to Reflect On - How do you see your nature shaping decisions? - Can you truly outsmart innate impulses? A Different Perspective Human behavior is complex and not easily overridden by willpower. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Assumption Outsmart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption-outsmart-4116090/) [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) [Ignorance People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance-people-296062/) [Modern Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-ignorance-4116088/) [Outsmart Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/outsmart-nature-4116089/) [People Assumption](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people-assumption-848842/) ## Related quotes > [“Modern ignorance is in people's assumption that they can outsmart their own nature. Wendell Berry”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/modern-ignorance-is-in-people-s-assumption-that-they-can-outsmart/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [“The modern ignorance is in people's assumption that they can outsmart their own nature. 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Some people imagine that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/there-have-always-been-ignorant-people-but-they-haven-t-always-had/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [“As far as the mode of ignorance is concerned, the performer is without knowledge, and therefore all his activities result in present misery, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-c-bhaktivedanta-swami-prabhup-da/as-far-as-the-mode-of-ignorance-is-concerned-the-performer-is-without/) [A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-c-bhaktivedanta-swami-prabhup-da/) > [In a democracy, we have always had to worry about the ignorance of the uneducated. Today we have to worry about the ignorance of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/in-a-democracy-we-have-always-had-to-worry-about-the-ignorance-of-the/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) ## More by Wendell Berry > [During the last 17 years... I have been working at the restoration of a once exhausted hillside. Its scars are now healed over, though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/during-the-last-17-years-i-have-been-working-at-the-restoration-of-a/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [Like the water of a deep stream, love is always too much. We did not make it. Though we drink till we burst, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/like-the-water-of-a-deep-stream-love-is-always-too-much-we-did-not/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [To husband is to use with care, to keep, to save, to make last, to conserve. 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Time does not stop for love, but it does not stop for death and grief, either.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-mercy-of-the-world-is-time-time-does-not-stop-for-love-but-it/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [The soil is the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-our-lives-the-source-and/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [I dislike the thought that some animal has been made miserable to feed me. If I am going to eat meat, I want it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/i-dislike-the-thought-that-some-animal-has-been-made-miserable-to/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/laughter-is-immeasurable-be-joyful/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [These are people who are capable of devotion, public devotion, to justice. They meant what they said and every day that passes, they mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/these-are-people-who-are-capable-of-devotion-public-devotion-to/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Explore all 847 Wendell Berry quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) ## 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": "“Modern ignorance is in people's assumption that they can outsmart their own nature.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/modern-ignorance-is-in-people-s-assumption-that-they-can-outsmart-2/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ignorance" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/modern-ignorance-is-in-people-s-assumption-that-they-can-outsmart-2/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d0/wendell-berry-236_ignorance_modern-ignorance-is-in-people-s-assumpti_2088357.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d0/wendell-berry-236_ignorance_modern-ignorance-is-in-people-s-assumpti_2088357.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d0/wendell-berry-236_ignorance_modern-ignorance-is-in-people-s-assumpti_2088357.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Modern ignorance is in people's assumption that they can outsmart their own nature.” — Wendell Berry", "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": "Wendell Berry", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Modern ignorance is in people's assumption...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/modern-ignorance-is-in-people-s-assumption-that-they-can-outsmart-2/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/modern-ignorance-is-in-people-s-assumption-that-they-can-outsmart-2/#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 } } ] } ```