Q0002

Socrates

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

What I do not know, I do not claim to know.
Thinker Socrates
School Socratic School
Source Plato, Apology 21d (later paraphrase of the idea)
Theme Knowledge
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Plato, Apology 21d (later paraphrase of the idea), within the tradition of Socratic School. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of knowledge, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Socrates's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Socrates. (n.d.). What I do not know, I do not claim to know. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0002

MLA: Socrates. “What I do not know, I do not….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0002.

Chicago: Socrates. “What I do not know, I do not….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0002.

Same thinker

More from Socrates

  1. The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being.
  2. It is worse to do injustice than to suffer it.
  3. No one errs willingly.
  4. Virtue does not come from money, but from virtue come money and all other good things for human beings.
  5. One must never do injustice in any way.

All quotations by Socrates

Same theme

More on knowledge

  1. No one errs willingly.
  2. What then is time? If no one asks me, I know; if I wish to explain it to one who asks, I do not know.
  3. What do I know?
  4. Once in a lifetime, everything must be doubted.
  5. The world is my representation.

Browse the knowledge theme