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Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Sayings of Socrates 12


I went to the artisans, for I was conscious that I knew nothing at all, as I may say, and I was sure that they knew many fine things of which I was ignorant, and in this they certainly were wiser than I was. 

But I observed that even the good artisans fell into the same error as the poets; because they were good workmen, they thought they knew all sorts of high matters, and this defect in them overshadowed their wisdom.

Therefore I asked myself on behalf of the Oracle, whether I would like to be as I was, neither having their knowledge nor their ignorance, or like them in both; and I made answer to myself and the Oracle that I was better off as I was.

—Plato, Apology 22d–e

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