Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“I neither know nor think that I know.”
- Source
- Apology
- Date
- c. 399 BCE setting
- Local voice
- Dialogue speaker · Socrates
- English wording
- Benjamin Jowett — Translator · from Ancient Greek
Meaning of “I neither know nor think that I know.”
Socrates locates a small advantage in recognizing the boundary of his own knowledge: uncertainty is intellectually healthier than possessing the same ignorance while mistaking it for wisdom.
Where does it come from?
Plato, Apology, Benjamin Jowett translation, Project Gutenberg #1656. Socrates says this after examining a politician whom others considered wise; the wording is dialogue speech attributed to Socrates within Plato’s work, not a claim that Socrates knew literally nothing.
Why the local voice matters
Socrates says this in Plato’s Apology while comparing his acknowledged ignorance with a politician who lacks knowledge but believes himself wise.
