Q0630
“Cosmopolitans begin with a sense of one thing we all certainly share,…” — Kwame Anthony Appiah (Cosmopolitanism)
Verified English quotation. Primary source: Cosmopolitanism. Theme: humility.
English
Cosmopolitans begin with a sense of one thing we all certainly share, which is our fallibility. Nobody has reason to be confident that they're right about everything.
Source and attribution
The archive attributes this English wording to Cosmopolitanism and files it under Africana Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
About Kwame Anthony Appiah
Kwame Anthony Appiah (b. 1954) is a British-Ghanaian philosopher who has taught at Princeton, NYU, and elsewhere.
How to read this passage
Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Confucius and Kwame Anthony Appiah), humility is framed through Stoicism and Confucianism. Some passages define humility; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through humility, knowledge.
Concepts in this quote
- Humility
- Humility appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat humility as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.
- Knowledge
- Knowledge is the philosophical study of what we can justifiably claim to know—and where certainty ends.
How to cite this quotation
APA: Kwame Anthony Appiah. (n.d.). Cosmopolitans begin with a sense of one thing we all certainly share, which is our fallibility. Nobody has reason to be confident that they're right about everything. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0630
MLA: Kwame Anthony Appiah. “Cosmopolitans begin with a sense of one thing….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0630.
Chicago: Kwame Anthony Appiah. “Cosmopolitans begin with a sense of one thing….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0630.
Frequently asked questions
What is the source of the quotation “Cosmopolitans begin with a sense of one thing…”?
The passage is attributed to Kwame Anthony Appiah, Cosmopolitanism. The archive attributes this English wording to Cosmopolitanism and files it under Africana Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
What does Kwame Anthony Appiah mean by humility?
Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Confucius and Kwame Anthony Appiah), humility is framed through Stoicism and Confucianism. Some passages define humility; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through humility, knowledge.