There’s nothing wrong with not knowing, but there’s something…
Page 96. There’s nothing wrong with not knowing, but there’s something deeply wrong with having a strong opinion based on very little fact a reason.
— from The Instruments (Awareness/Perception/Expectations)
In the book
We never see reality directly; we see only a model of it, built from imperfect observations — and wisdom never forgets the difference. The danger is not ignorance — there is nothing wrong with not knowing — the danger is the man who is certain he knows what he does not. Genius itself, William James said, is mostly the faculty of perceiving a thing in an unhabitual way; the thinker is simply the one who sees where others do not. — The Instruments (Awareness/Perception/Expectations)
And learn to see a thought for what it actually is, because studied closely even a tormenting one is merely a temporary appearance of words passing through, neither a fact nor you. There is nothing wrong with not knowing; the only real danger is being certain you know what you do not. Now the rough air — the lies this instrument tells, most of which I have believed in my time. — The Mind in the Cockpit