Origins and parallels A proverb in practically the same wording is found in Hebrew, in the Biblical
Book of Proverbs (24:5): . This was translated in the Latin
Vulgata as "" and in the
King James Version as "A wise man is strong, a man of knowledge increaseth strength". The Persian poet
Ferdowsi (940–1019/1025) wrote توانا بود هر که دانا بود (
tavânâ bûd har ke dânâ bûd) "Mighty is the one who has knowledge."
Thomas Hobbes The first known reference of the exact phrase appeared in the Latin edition of
Leviathan (1668; the English version had been published in 1651). This passage from Part 1 ("De Homine"), Chapter X ("De Potentia, Dignitate et Honore") occurs in a list of various attributes of man which constitute power; in this list, "sciences" or "the sciences" are given a minor position: In the English version this passage reads as thus: On a later work,
De Corpore (1655), also written in Latin, Hobbes expanded the same idea: In
Hobbes and the social contract tradition (1988), Jean Hampton indicates that this quote is 'after Bacon' and in a footnote, that 'Hobbes was Bacon's secretary as a young man and had philosophical discussions with him' (Aubrey 1898, 331).
Francis Bacon , "" (knowledge itself is power).
Meditationes Sacrae (1597). The closest expression in Bacon's works is, perhaps, the expression "", found in his
Meditationes Sacrae (1597), which is translated as "knowledge itself is power": One of many differing English translations of this section includes the following: Interpretation of the notion of power meant by Bacon must therefore take into account his distinction between the power of knowing and the power of working and acting, the opposite of what is assumed when the maxim is taken out of context. Indeed, the quotation has become a
cliche. In the better-known
Novum Organum, Bacon wrote, "Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. Nature to be commanded must be obeyed; and that which in contemplation is as the cause is in operation as the rule."
Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in his essay
Old Age, included in the collection
Society and Solitude (1870):
Wissen ist Macht in Germany After the 1871
unification of Germany, "" (
Knowledge is power, geographical knowledge is world power) was often used in German geopolitics and the public discussion to support efforts for a
German colonial empire after 1880.
Julius Perthes, for example, used the motto for his
publishing house. However, this installation of geographical research followed popular requests and was not imposed by the government. In particular,
Count Bismarck was not much interested in German colonial adventures; his envoy
Gustav Nachtigal started with the first
protectorates, but was more interested in
ethnological aspects. After World War I, German geopolitics tried to contribute to efforts to regain world power. Scholars like
Karl Haushofer, a former general, and his son
Albrecht Haushofer (both in close contact with
Rudolf Hess) got worldwide attention with their concept of
geopolitics. Associations of German geographers and schoolteachers welcomed the
Machtergreifung and hoped to get further influence in the new regime. Germany's postwar geopolitics was much more cautious; concepts of political geography and projection of power had not been widespread scholarly topics in Germany until 1989. Geographical knowledge is however still of importance in Germany. Germans tend to mock US politicians' and celebrities' comparable lack of interest in the topic. A Sponti (
Außerparlamentarische Opposition) version of the slogan is "Wissen ist Macht, nichts wissen macht auch nichts", a pun about the previous motto meaning "Knowledge is power, knowing nothing is no problem, either." The German Bundeswehr Bataillon Elektronische Kampfführung 932, an
electronic warfare unit based in
Frankenberg (Eder), still uses the Latin version as its motto. == Theories ==