“The wise speak only of what they know, Gríma son of Gálmód. A witless worm have you become. Therefore be silent, and keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a serving-man till the lightning falls.”
So spoke the Wise Gandalf. Isn’t that just awesome? Maybe I’m just overly obsessed with LOTR (then again, I consider obsession to be a good thing. I’ll write about that later on), but I think that was just stupendous. The wise speak only of what they know. Think about it.
Have you spoken an opinion about something that you don’t have all the info about and then someone who knows more about the topic comes along and throws your opinion out of the window so many times that you lost count? Maybe it’s just me again in my crazy world, but I’ve done that. Not a good feeling.
Or maybe it wasn’t an opinion. Maybe you definitely knew without a shadow of a doubt that you knew how to do something. So, you want to show everyone how it’s done, you get up to do it, and you fail miserably. You obviously didn’t know what you were doing.
So, I would say that Gandalf was on to something here. The wise speak only of what they know. Maybe next time you’re going to voice an opinion or attempt some feat, make sure you know what you’re talking about, otherwise, you’ll look like a fool.
Now, do we completely know everything about even one thing? Well, maybe 2+2=4 and some other simple obvious things, but it's hard to be completely sure about any one thing. Does that mean we just remain silent all day? NO! On the whole, as long as you’ve judged that you’ve significantly covered a sufficient amount of knowledge on a topic, go ahead and talk about it.
And if you know you’re by no means an expert on a topic, but you still think your opinion is valid, well then, make sure everyone knows that this is the thought of a non-expert. Unless you’re as smart as Sherlock (and even then), there’s no need to get haughty about what you think you know. In other words, don’t get cocky, kid.
So spoke the Wise Gandalf. Isn’t that just awesome? Maybe I’m just overly obsessed with LOTR (then again, I consider obsession to be a good thing. I’ll write about that later on), but I think that was just stupendous. The wise speak only of what they know. Think about it.
Have you spoken an opinion about something that you don’t have all the info about and then someone who knows more about the topic comes along and throws your opinion out of the window so many times that you lost count? Maybe it’s just me again in my crazy world, but I’ve done that. Not a good feeling.
Or maybe it wasn’t an opinion. Maybe you definitely knew without a shadow of a doubt that you knew how to do something. So, you want to show everyone how it’s done, you get up to do it, and you fail miserably. You obviously didn’t know what you were doing.
So, I would say that Gandalf was on to something here. The wise speak only of what they know. Maybe next time you’re going to voice an opinion or attempt some feat, make sure you know what you’re talking about, otherwise, you’ll look like a fool.
Now, do we completely know everything about even one thing? Well, maybe 2+2=4 and some other simple obvious things, but it's hard to be completely sure about any one thing. Does that mean we just remain silent all day? NO! On the whole, as long as you’ve judged that you’ve significantly covered a sufficient amount of knowledge on a topic, go ahead and talk about it.
And if you know you’re by no means an expert on a topic, but you still think your opinion is valid, well then, make sure everyone knows that this is the thought of a non-expert. Unless you’re as smart as Sherlock (and even then), there’s no need to get haughty about what you think you know. In other words, don’t get cocky, kid.
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