“One can give or withhold in a manner far more effective, sophisticated, useful, which is quite invisible to people who think that giving or withholding is done by external assessment. If you seek some mark of favour or 'promotion', know that you are not ready for it. Progress comes through capacity to learn, and is irresistible. Nobody can stand between you and knowledge if you are fit for it.”

“Knowledge is something which you can use.Belief is something which uses you.”

“People think that they think things, and they also think that they know things. They could usefully give some attention to the question of whether they know what they think and know what they think they know.”

“Anybody or anything may stand between you and knowledge if you are unfit for it.”

“If you give what can be takes, you are not really giving.Take what you are given, not what you want to be given.Take what is given:Give what cannot be taken.”

“The more you look at 'common knowledge', the more you realise that it is more likely to be common than it is to be knowledge.No real knowledge is common.”

“Two people can illustrate crudity to you.The first is the crude man, whom you see perceiving the diamond as a stone.The other is the refined man, who makes clear to you the crudity of the first one.”