De humili scire sui ipsius.

The Poverty of Knowledge Without Love

Natural curiosity is worthless before God without humility, self-knowledge, and charity.

Every person naturally wants to know. But what good is knowledge without the fear of God? Better indeed is the humble peasant who is zealous for God than the proud philosopher who, neglecting himself, observes the course of the heavens. Whoever truly knows himself becomes worthless in his own eyes and is not delighted by human praise. If I knew everything in the world and yet were not in love, what good would it do me before God, who is about to judge me by my deeds?^✦

The Vanity of Curious Learning

Excessive desire to learn breeds distraction, vanity, and self-deception rather than true wisdom.

Calm your excessive desire to learn, because it stirs up great distraction and self-deception. Those who have knowledge gladly want to be seen as learned and called wise. There are many things that it does the soul little or no good to know. And a person is very foolish who pays more attention to some things than to those that serve their salvation. Many words do not satisfy the soul, but a good life refreshes the mind, and a pure conscience gives great confidence before God.

The Burden of Greater Knowledge

The more one knows, the greater the accountability — so one must fear, not boast, and love obscurity.

The more and the better you know, the more severely you'll be judged for it — unless you've lived a holy life. So don't be puffed up about any skill or knowledge, but rather fear the understanding you've been given. If it seems to you that you know many things and understand them well enough, recognize nevertheless that there are far more things you don't know. Don't think highly of yourself — instead, acknowledge your ignorance all the more.^✦ Why do you want to set yourself above anyone, when there are many who are more learned than you and more skilled in the law? If you want to know something useful and truly learn it, love being unknown and counted as nothing.

True Self-Knowledge and the Frailty We Share

The highest wisdom is to know oneself truly, think little of oneself, and hold no one more frail than oneself.

This is the highest and most useful lesson: a true knowledge of yourself, and a low regard for yourself.¹ To think nothing of yourself, and to always think well and highly of others — that is great wisdom and perfection. If you were to see someone openly sinning, or committing some serious wrong, you shouldn't consider yourself better — because you don't know how long you yourself can stand firm in goodness. We are all frail, but you should consider no one more frail than yourself.

Read the original Latin

Omnis homo naturaliter scire desiderat. Sed scientia sine timore Dei quid importat? Melior est profecto Rusticus humilis, qui Deo fervit, quam superbus Philosophus, qui se neglecto cursum cæli considerat. Qui bene se ipsum cognoscit sibi ipsi vilescit, nec laudibus delectatur humanis. Si scirem omnia quæ in mundo sunt, et non essem in charitate, quid me juvaret coram Deo, qui me judicaturus est ex facto?

Quiesce a nimio discendi desiderio, quia ibi magna incitatur distractio et deceptio. Scientes volunt libenter docti videri et sapientes dici. Multa sunt quæ scire animæ parum vel nihil prodest. Et valde insipiens est, qui aliquibus magis intendit, quam his quæ saluti suæ deserviunt. Multa verba non satiant animam, sed bona vita refrigerat mentem, et pura conscientia magnam ad Deum præstat confidentiam.

Quanto plus et melius scis, tanto gravius judicaberis inde nisi sancte vixeris. Noli ergo extolli de ulla arte vel scientia, sed potius time de data tibi notitia. Si tibi videtur quod multa scias et satis bene intelligas, scito tamen quia sunt multo plura quæ nescis. Noli sapere altum, sed ignorantiam tuam magis fatere. Quid te vis alicui præferre, cum plures doctiores te inveniantur, et magis in lege periti. Si vis aliquid utiliter scire, et discere, ama nesciri, et pro nihilo reputari.

Hæc est altissima et utilissima lectio, sui ipsius vera cognitio, et despectio. De se ipso nihil tenere, et de aliis semper bene et alte sentire magna sapientia est, et perfectio. Si videres aliquem aperte peccare, vel aliqua gravia perpetrare, non deberes te meliorem exstimare, quia nescis quamdiu possis in bono stare. Omnes fragiles sumus, sed tu neminem fragiliorem te ipso tenebis.

Scripture echoes

↩1Cor.13.2 — And if I have prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
↩Rom.12.16 — Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

Notes

1 ↩The raw text reads 'sui ipius', corrected in the normalized text to 'sui ipsius' (of oneself).