Francis Bacon — Knowledge is power.
Knowledge is power.Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 'Meditationes Sacrae' (1597)
Three words, and none wasted. Bacon is not being poetic: he means knowledge changes what you are able to do in the world, which is the only working definition of power.
Every word of English you own is a small increase in what you can ask for, understand, refuse, and explain. Vocabulary is agency.
Words that widen the world
Information and understanding gained through learning.
Synonyms: learning, understanding, expertise
Knowledge quietly widened her choices.
The capacity to act and make your own choices.
Synonyms: control, power, autonomy
Language gave him agency abroad.
Common questions
It means what you know directly increases what you are able to do and decide — understanding creates real-world capability.
From Francis Bacon's 'Meditationes Sacrae' (1597).
Carry it with you
In your own words, what does this thought mean to you? Write three or four sentences in English about a moment when it felt true — saying it yourself is how it stays with you.
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