“It Is Impossible For A Man To Learn What He Thinks He Already Knows”

If you believe that you know all that there is to know about something, you will not be open to learning more about it. This quote from Epictetus illustrates the fact that being too confident in what you think you know can make you end up knowing less.

But what does that mean? We have to be confident in some things we know, don’t we? We can’t question everything that we know as a fact. How would we be able to function efficiently? How would we have any moral compass? Obviously, we shouldn’t let this quote lead us to not being sure of the most clear things.

What this quote really emphasizes is to always question yourself on any issue where there is room for more than one interpretation. Always be open to the fact that you could be wrong. Or at least, be open to the fact that your point of view does not encompass everything worth mentioning about the topic.

It is often the people who are the most off-base on a topic who are the most confident in how correct they are. When you know just enough to think you are an expert on a topic, but not enough to recognize the shortcomings in your point of view, you are in the danger zone of this.

But being completely off is not the only example of this. You could be mostly correct, but so confident in your opinion that you don’t think that looking at it from another perspective is worth your while. Even if you are partially right, you miss out on learning and growing.

This quote doesn’t just apply to topics of argument. Obviously, it applies to life itself. If you think you have life down, you may not be open to doing things to improve yourself. Because if you think you have things down, you might look at suggestions as bad ideas.

With that being said, just because someone gives you a suggestion, or has a different opinion, it does not automatically mean their opinion is better than yours, or even worth emulating or considering. It is the larger point of never being so sure of yourself that you close yourself off from learning from other people’s perspectives, and from changing and improving.

Be confident in yourself, but make sure you are able to learn and grow in all stages of your life.