The Disease of Knowledge, Knowing the Unknowable, Highest Attainment, True
Knowledge,
Sage's Wisdom, Mental Health, Delusions, Pretension, Sick of Sickness,
知病
"To know and yet think we do not know is the highest attainment;
Not to know and yet think we do know is a disease.
It is simply by being pained at the thought of having this disease that we are
preserved from it.
The sage has not the disease.
He knows the pain that would be inseparable from it, and therefore he does not
have it."
- Translated by
James Legge, 1891, Chapter 71
"To know the unknowable, that is elevating.
Not to know the knowable, that is sickness.
Only by becoming sick of sickness can we be without sickness.
The holy man is not sick.
Because he is sick of sickness, therefore he is not sick."
- Translated by
D. T. Suzuki and Paul Carus, 1913,
Chapter 71
"Knowing you know not, is strength -
A high attainment.
Not knowing, yet thinking you know, is sickness -
A dire defect.
Only with knowledge of this sickness as a sickness,
Can the defect be removed.
The Sage has no sickness - no defect.
Recognizing sickness as sickness, defect as defect,
He is free from these curses."
- Translated by
Alan B. Taplow,
1982, Chapter 71
By Alexander Simkins. 
By Derek Lin.
By Ming-Dao Deng.
By Benjamin Hoff.
By Ming-Dao Deng.
Translated by Thomas Cleary.
"Those who know, and yet do not think they know, belong
to the highest type of men.
Those who do not know, and yet think they know, are really at fault.
When one knows that he is at fault, he can be free of faults.
The Sage is free of faults because he knows when he is at fault."
- Translated by
Cheng Lin, Chapter
71
"To recognize one's ignorance of unknowable things is
mental health, and to be ignorant of knowable things is sickness.
Only by grieving over ignorance of knowable things are we in mental health.
The wise man is wise because he understands his ignorance and is grieved over
it."
- Translated by
Dwight Goddard,
1919, Chapter 71
"To know that you do not know is best.
Who knows that he doesn't know is the highest.
To know when one doesn't know is best.
Who pretends to know what he doesn't know is sick-minded;
To think one knows when one doesn't know is a sort of malady.
Pretend to know when you don't know - that's a disease.
He who recognizes this disease as a disease can also cure himself of it [and
maybe not].
[One may eventually get free from a disease by recognizing it for what it is.]
Who recognizes sick-mindedness as sick-mindedness can't be wholly sick-minded,
after all.
The wise man is hardly sick-minded if he recognizes sick mind as sick and also
cures some diseases.
He's hardly a sick mind."
- Translated by
Tormond Byrn,
1997, Chapter 71
By Hu Xuzehi
Annotated translation by Victor Mair 
By Ha Poong Kim
By Hans-Georg Moeller 
By Roger T. Ames and David T. Hall
By Wes Burgess
By Arthur Waley
"To know that you do not know is the wisest and
healthiest thing.
To think you know when you do not can be likened to an illness.
First you must rid yourself of the thought that you know, and then you are on
the way to healing.
The sage does not have this sickness, he realizes that he does not know;
therefore his sickness has vanished."
- Translated by
John Dicus, 2002,
Chapter 71
"To recognize ignorance comes first;
Not to know to know this will cause harm:
Harm that the wise are spared
Because they recognize it.
Only by recognizing the harm
Can one be spared."
- Translated by
Moss Roberts,
Chapter 71
Translation and elucidation by Hua Ching Ni
Translated by Brian Walker
Translated by Arthur Waley
Translated by Lionel and and Herbert Giles
By Eva Wong
"To know how little one knows is to have genuine
knowledge.
Not to know how little one knows is to be deluded.
Only he who knows when he is deluded can free himself from such delusion.
The intelligent man is not deluded, because he knows and accepts his ignorance,
and accepts his ignorance as ignorance, and thereby has genuine knowledge."
- Translated by
Archie J. Bahm,
Chapter 71
"To realize that our knowledge is ignorance,
This is a noble insight.
To regard our ignorance as knowledge,
This is mental sickness.
Only when we are sick of our sickness
Shall we cease to be sick.
The Sage is not sick, being sick of sickness;
This is the secret of health."
- Translated by
John C. H. Wu,
Chapter 71
Dao Te Ching by Laozi, Posts to the Cloud Hands Blog
Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
Translated by Livia Kohn
Dao De Jing: The Book of the Way
"Nobody has all the answers.
Knowing that you do not know everything is far wiser than thinking that you know
a lot when you really don't.
Phony expertise is neurotic.
Fortunately, once the symptoms are recognized, the sure is easy: stop it.
Probably every leader has tried this form of pretense at one time or another.
The wise leader has learned how painful it is to fake knowledge.
Being wise and not wanting the pain; the leader does no indulge in pretending.
Anyway, it is a relief to be able to say: "I don't know." "
- Translated by
John Heider, 1985,
Chapter 71
"Those who know seem not to know
And those who don't pretend they do-
This is what it means to be flawed.
If you're sick at this, then you'll win through.
The sage is. He is sick of all faults-
He is sick of being sick. He is well."
- Translated by
Kwok, Palmer, and
Ramsey, 1993, Chapter 71
"To know without thinking one knows is best.
Not to know but to think one knows is harmful.
It is by being aware of harm that one avoids it.
The wise person does not come to harm.
It is because the wise are aware of harm
That they avoid coming to harm."
- Translated by
A. S. Kline, 2003,
Chapter 71
Translated by Eva Wong 
Translated by Philip Ivahoe
By James Miller
Translated by Stephen Bokencamp
By Alexander and Annellen Simpkins
Translated by Thomas Cleary
By Livia Kohn
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