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Who really said it

He knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know

Spoken by Socrates (as recorded by Plato) Socrates c. 470–399 BC · Athenian philosopher, in Plato’s dialogue
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This is a genuine, verbatim line from Plato’s Apology (21d) in Benjamin Jowett’s translation, spoken by Socrates as he recounts examining a politician who was reputed wise: “…for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know.” The wording matches Jowett’s 1871 English rendering exactly.

Last verified 10 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“He knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know” Socrates, in Plato's Apology (21d), trans. Benjamin Jowett, 1871

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In context

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Provenance

The source

Work
Plato, ‘Apology’ (Apología Sōkrátous), §21d
Speaker
Socrates, recounting his cross-examination of a politician reputed to be wise
Translation
Benjamin Jowett, ‘The Dialogues of Plato’ (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1871)
Original date
Greek text composed c. 399–390s BC

Well, although I do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than he is,—for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know. In this latter particular, then, I seem to have slightly the advantage of him.

Plato, ‘Apology’ 21d, trans. Benjamin Jowett (1871). Socrates is reflecting on why the oracle called him the wisest of men.

Plato’s Apology, Jowett translation, at Wikisource

How we know

  • The line is confirmed verbatim in the Jowett translation of Plato’s Apology at Wikisource, at section 21d.
  • It sits inside Socrates’ account of testing a reputedly wise politician — the origin of the idea philosophers call Socratic ignorance.
  • The much-quoted shorthand “I know that I know nothing” is a later paraphrase of this passage, not a direct Platonic quotation, as Wikipedia’s article notes.
Public domain

The Greek text of Plato’s Apology has been in the public domain for over two millennia. The specific English wording quoted here is Benjamin Jowett’s translation, first published in The Dialogues of Plato (1871) — well before 1931 — so this translation is also public domain in the United States. Modern translations (e.g. Grube, Tredennick) may still be in copyright, but the wording on this page is Jowett’s.

This reflects the original work, which is public domain. If your exact English wording comes from a specific modern translation, that translation may itself still be under copyright — check the edition you quote.

Fact-check

A real quote — but not the one people usually cite

The attribution to Socrates is correct: this line genuinely appears in Plato’s Apology. The common confusion is between this real, longer sentence and the pithier slogan people remember.

“I know that I know nothing” paraphrase

This famous slogan is a modern distillation of the Apology passage, not a phrase Plato ever wrote verbatim. As Wikipedia documents, no direct Greek quotation matches it — it summarizes ideas expressed here and elsewhere in the dialogue.

Wording drift across translations translation

“He knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know” is Benjamin Jowett’s 1871 wording. Other translators render 21d differently, so this precise sentence belongs specifically to Jowett.

The thought and the words are genuinely Socrates’, from Plato’s Apology 21d — in Jowett’s translation. Just don’t confuse this real sentence with the looser ‘I know that I know nothing.’

Context

Why it mattered

The sentence comes from Socrates’ defense at his 399 BC trial, as Plato reconstructs it. Puzzled that the Delphic oracle had called him the wisest of men, Socrates set out to find someone wiser — and questioned a politician famous for his supposed wisdom. He came away with the conclusion quoted here.

The point is not that Socrates knows more, but that he alone is honest about the limits of his knowledge. This gap — between the man who thinks he knows and the man who admits he does not — became the seed of what philosophers call Socratic ignorance, and the founding gesture of Western critical inquiry.

He knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know.

The passage in context

In the Apology, Socrates frames his whole way of life — questioning others until their claims to knowledge collapse — as obedience to the oracle’s riddle. That practice made him enemies and, ultimately, contributed to the charges that led to his execution.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Wisdom Knowledge Humility

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Apology (Jowett) — full texten.wikisource.org

The complete Jowett translation; search for “he knows nothing” to find the line in context at 21d.
‘I know that I know nothing’en.wikipedia.org

Explains that the famous one-liner is a paraphrase distilled from this Apology passage, not a verbatim quotation.
Plato, Apology 21 (parallel Greek/English)lexundria.com

Section-21 reader that lets you line up the Greek original with the Jowett English.
The Dialogues of Plato (Jowett)archive.org

Scanned Jowett edition for verifying the 1871 translation against the printed page.
Socrates on knowing nothingdaily-philosophy.com

Discussion of the passage and how it relates to the popular ‘I know that I know nothing’ formula.

The true speaker

About the speaker

Socrates

c. 470–399 BC · Athenian philosopher, as portrayed by Plato

Socrates was an Athenian philosopher who wrote nothing himself; he survives chiefly through the dialogues of his student Plato. In the Apology — Plato’s dramatization of Socrates’ 399 BC trial — Socrates explains that his only wisdom lies in knowing that he does not know, the stance later called Socratic ignorance. The words on this page are Socrates’ as Plato records them, in Benjamin Jowett’s Victorian translation.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

Plato. Apology 21d. In The Dialogues of Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1871.

MLA (9th ed.)

Plato. “Apology.” The Dialogues of Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett, Clarendon Press, 1871.

APA (7th ed.)

Plato. (1871). Apology. In B. Jowett (Trans.), The dialogues of Plato. Clarendon Press. (Original work composed c. 399–390s BC)

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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘He knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know’?” Last verified 10 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/he-knows-nothing-and-thinks-that-he-knows-i-neither-know

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