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Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise.

— Thomas à Kempis

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More quotes by Thomas à Kempis

There is no creature so small and abject, that it representeth not the goodness of God.

The Imitation of Christ (1418)

And when he is out of sight, quickly also is he out of mind.

The Imitation of Christ (1418)

Of two evils, the less is always to be chosen.

The Imitation of Christ (1418)

Remember always your end, and that lost time does not return.

Happy is the man who hath the hour of his death always before his eyes, and daily prepareth himself to die.

The Imitation of Christ (1418)

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The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

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It is not in the books of the Philosophers, but in the religious symbolism of the Ancients, that we must look for the footprints of Science, and re-discover the Mysteries of Knowledge.

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Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.

Bertrand Russell

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Thomas à Kempis (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.