proverb · Words worth keeping
He who always knows best never learns.
He who always knows best never learns.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Always knowing best preventing learning contrasts fixed certainty with openness to revision. The saying questions confidence that leaves no room for new information.
What the words are saying
The universal wording is a warning rather than a finding that a confident person never learns. A useful application welcomes relevant questions and evidence while still allowing justified conclusions. Changing a view is not required merely to appear open; reasons and actual information matter.
Everyday example
Someone checks a challenge to an established view and revises it when the evidence warrants change.
When to use it
Use it to encourage evidence-responsive learning.
What it does not mean
No ignorance inferred from all confidence or duty to accept every objection is established.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
Sweden
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.- Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided wisdom reference (2014 AD)
Supplied reference B; unit 899; PDF page 80; collection label: Sweden
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- Sweden
