Skip to content

The fear of God is not the beginning of wisdom. The fear of God is the death of wisdom. Skepticism and doubt lead to study and investigation, and investigation is the beginning of wisdom.

— Clarence Darrow Why I Am An Agnostic (1929)

Another quote →

Topics

Wisdom

More quotes by Clarence Darrow

You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free.

Arguments in the Case of the Communist Labor Party (1920)

I have always felt that doubt was the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of God was the end of wisdom.

Chase after the truth like all hell and you’ll free yourself, even though you never touch its coat tails.

I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction.

Liberty is the most jealous and exacting mistress that can beguile the brain and soul of man.

All Clarence Darrow quotes →

You may also like

If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.

William Blake The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)

'The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.'

William Shakespeare As You Like It (1599)

It takes extraordinary wisdom and self-control to accept that many things have a logic we do not understand that is smarter than our own.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010)

Young men think old men are fools; but old men know young men are fools.

George Chapman All Fools (1605)

Attribution

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