All sorts of torturers, dictators, fanatics, and demagogues struggling for power… they 'know.' They know, and whatever they know is enough for them once and for all. They don’t want to find out about anything else, since that might diminish their arguments' force. And any knowledge that doesn’t lead to new questions quickly dies out: it fails to maintain the temperature required for sustaining life. In the most extreme cases, cases well known from ancient and modern history, it even poses a lethal threat to society.
This is why I value that little phrase, 'I don’t know' so highly. It’s small, but it flies on mighty wings. It expands our lives to include the spaces within us as well as those outer expanses in which our tiny Earth hangs suspended.
Nobel Prize acceptance speech (1996)
Use the links below to read about the life and work of Polish poet, essayist and Nobel laureate WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA (1923–2012):
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