know | self knowledge is power over yourself

knowledge is power and self knowledge is power over yourself

know

verb

• be aware of through observation, inquiry, or information.

I can’t tell you the first time I heard someone say the above. It’s a quote I’ve heard repeated on several occasions but multiple different people. It’s a very common saying because it’s dripping in truth. 

There tends to be a correlation between the amount of knowledge one has, and the power they’re able to exert. It’s not an absolute truth because terms like knowledge and power are slippery ones. When you begin to try and define them with precision you realise how difficult a task that is. 

Although I’m familiar with this saying, it’s not one I’ve thought to apply to myself. I’ve thought about my lack of power and need for knowledge in relation to external things. I haven’t applied the saying to myself in the context of self knowledge. I haven’t ever thought “self knowledge is power over yourself.”