Quote Origin: It Is Better to Know Nothing than to Know What Ain’t So

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Josh Billings? Artemus Ward? Will Rogers? Abraham Lincoln? Mark Twain? Friedrich Nietzsche? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: Here are two versions of an expression I am trying to trace:

1) It’s better to know nothing than to know what ain’t so.

2) It is better not to know so much, than to know so many things that ain’t so.

Should these words be credited to Mark Twain, Josh Billings, Artemus Ward, Will Rogers, or someone else?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1874 the following compendium was released: “Everybody’s Friend or Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor”. The apostrophe in the name Billings was misplaced in the title. The work employed nonstandard spelling which causes headaches for modern researchers who are attempting to find matches using standard spelling. One section was labeled “Affurisms” because it contained “Aphorisms”. The book included two thematically relevant statements:1

A) I honestly beleave it iz better tew know nothing than two know what ain’t so.

B) Wisdum don’t konsist in knowing more that iz new, but in knowing less that iz false.

Here are the two sentences written with standard spelling:

A) I honestly believe it is better to know nothing than to know what ain’t so.

B) Wisdom don’t consist in knowing more that is new, but in knowing less that is false

QI believes that Josh Billings can be credited with the sayings above. There exists a large family of semantically overlapping expressions that form an inclusive superset, and QI will eventually examine some of the other members of this extended group.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

A separate article by QI examines a related saying often attributed to Mark Twain: It Ain’t What You Don’t Know That Gets You Into Trouble. It’s What You Know for Sure That Just Ain’t So.

Also, a separate article by QI examines a related remark by Friedrich Nietzsche which has been rendered into English as: Better know nothing than half-know many things!

A thematic precursor of the adage appeared in a 1747 history book.  The book asserted that the data about Persia in previous books was inaccurate; however, the author said he was now able to supply superior information. Boldface has been added to excerpts:2

Thirdly, The proper names, titles of honour, wars and conquest of the Persians, are so disfigured by the mistakes of the authors, from whom we were obliged to take our accounts, that if we had published them alone, they must have tended rather to the propagating of error than of knowlege; since it is better to know nothing, than to apprehend we know what we know not. All these deficiences, misrepresentations, and mistakes, will be supplied and corrected in the following history . . .

On May 7, 1869 the “Harrisburg Telegraph” of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania printed a few dozen “Sollum Thoughts”, i.e., “Solemn Thoughts” under the byline of Josh Billings. Here were three items:3

Hope iz a hen that lays more eggs than she kan hatch out.

Better leave yure child virtew than money; but this iz a sekret known only tew a few.

I honestly beleave it iz better tew know nothing than tew knew what ain’t so.

So, the target saying appeared in newspapers before it was collected and placed into the large 1874 compendium.

On May 21, 1869 “The Border Sentinel” of Mound City, Kansas printed a set of “Sollum Thoughts” ascribed to Billings which included an instance with slightly different spelling:4

I honestly believe it iz better tew know nothing than tew know what ain’t so.

In 1872 “Appletons’ Journal” printed another instance credited to Billings:5

Josh Billings says, very truly: “You’d better not know so much, than to know so many things that ain’t so.”

In 1872 a humor book set in a future version of Saratoga, New York was published. The work included an instance of the adage ascribed to Billings:6

Then I thought with Mr. Billings, that you’d better not know so much, than to know so many things that a’n’t so.

In 1873 “Folio” magazine of Boston, Massachusetts printed an instance ascribed to Billings:7

Josh Billings says it is better not to know so much, than to know so many things that aint so.

In 1874 “Everybody’s Friend or Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor” printed the following two sayings as mentioned previously in this article:

A) I honestly beleave it iz better tew know nothing than two know what ain’t so.
B) Wisdum don’t konsist in knowing more that iz new, but in knowing less that iz false.

By 1897 the adage had been reassigned to the popular humorist Artemus Ward in the pages of “The North-Western Journal of Education”. The name “Artemus” was incorrectly spelled as “Artemas”:8

In reference to the first part of this communication, the saying of Artemas Ward comes to mind: “It is better not to know so much than to know so many things that ain’t so.”

By 1899 a religious orator recorded in the pages of “The Pacific Unitarian” had reassigned the saying to the luminary Mark Twain:9

Perhaps, as Mark Twain observed, it is better not to know so much than to know so many things that are n’t so.

In 1900 an instance was assigned to Abraham Lincoln in the pages of “The Land of Sunshine: The Magazine of California and the West”:10

For, as Lincoln remarked, “It’s better not to know quite so many things than to know so many things that ain’t so.” And so many more things that aren’t worth a rap, even if they are so.

A variant has sometimes been linked to the humorist Will Rogers. For example, “New York Magazine” printed the following in 1978:11

The trouble with most people, as Will Rogers observed, is not that they don’t know much but that they know so much that isn’t true.

In conclusion, Josh Billings popularized this saying, and he included it in his 1874 collection “Everybody’s Friend”. Numerous divergent instances have been circulating for many decades. QI recommends the 1874 version because it was published in a book under the imprimatur of Billings.

Image Notes: Drawings of Josh Billings from the 1874 collection “Everybody’s Friend”. The illustrations were credited to “Thomas Nast and other artists”.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Fred Shapiro who discussed this topic with QI which led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. “The Yale Book of Quotations” edited by Shapiro included the 1874 citation. Special thanks to William Mullins who located the two 1869 citations.

Update History: On September 22, 2015 the 1900 citation for Lincoln was added. On November 25, 2018 citations dated May 7, 1869 and May 21, 1869 were added to the article. On October 28, 2021 a crosslink was added to an article about a quotation form Friedrich Nietzsche.

  1. 1874, Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, Section: Affurisms: Sollum Thoughts, Quote Page 286 and 430, American Publishing Company, Hartford, Connecticut. (Google Books Full View) link link ↩︎
  2. 1747, An Universal History, from the Earliest Account of Time, Volume 11, Book 2: The Asiatic History, Section: C.XIII: The History of the Persians, Quote Page 141, Column 2, Printed for T. Osborne, A. Millar, and J. Osborn, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  3. 1869 May 7, Harrisburg Telegraph, Sollum Thoughts by Josh Billings, Quote Page 1, Column 5, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  4. 1869 May 21, The Border Sentinel, Sollum Thoughts by Josh Billings, Quote Page 1, Column 5, Mound City, Kansas. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  5. 1872 September 28, Appletons’ Journal, Varieties, Page 364, Column 2, D. Appleton and Co., New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  6. Date: 1872, Title: Saratoga, in 1901, by Eli Perkins, Author: Melville de Lancey Landon, Article: “The Perkins’s Family, Congress Hall, Aug. 26th.” Start Page 182, Quote Page 185, Publisher: Sheldon & Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  7. 1873 January, Folio, Volume 8, Number 1, (Short item), Quote Page 12, Column 1, Published by White, Smith, and Perry, Boston, Massachusetts. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  8. 1897 February, The North-Western Journal of Education, Volume 7, Number 7, A Talk About Number by E. F. Tucker, Start Page 224, Quote Page 225, Column 1, Lincoln, Nebraska. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  9. 1899 February, The Pacific Unitarian, Volume 7, Number 4, Address of Rev. Charles R. Brown, Start Page 118, Quote Page 119, Column 2, San Francisco, California. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  10. 1900, September-October, The Land of Sunshine: The Magazine of California and the West, Edited by Chas. F. Lummis, Volume 13, Number 4, In the Lion’s Den by Chas. F. Lummis, Start Page 291, Quote Page 292, The Land of Sunshine Publishing Co., Los Angeles, California. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  11. 1978 July 10, New York Magazine, Volume 11, Number 28, True or False by Randy Cohen, Start Page 29, Quote Page 30, Published by New York Media, LLC. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎