Celebrating the Fourth

Your support makes programs like Independence Day at Monticello possible. Help us continue our important work.

Donate Now

"The wise know their weakness too well to assume infallibility; and he who knows most, knows best how little he knows." - Thomas Jefferson, February 25, 1812, The Proceedings of the Government of the United States, in maintaining the Public Right to the Beach of the Missisipi, Adjacent to New-Orleans, against the Intrusion of Edward Livingston[1]

Note: This passage is often erroneously quoted as, "He who knows best, knows how little he knows."

References

  1. ^ Also known as the "Batture Pamphlet." See L&B, 17:130. Text also available online from Google Books. See also Jefferson’s Statement on the Batture Case, July 31, 1810, in PTJ, 2:657n. Editorial note available at Founders Online.