Scientia potentia est phrase ""sapientia est potentia"" is often translated as "wisdom is power". The earliest documented occurrence of the phrase "Knowledge is power" is from Imam Ali (599-661 CE), as recorded in the tenth-century book Nahj Al-Balagha (originally in Arabic). He said: Another account of this concept is found in the Shahnameh by the Persian poet Ferdowsi (940–1020 CE) who wrote: "Capable is he who is wise" (in Persian: توانا بود هر که دانا بود). This hemistich is translated to English as "knowledge is power" or "One who has wisdom is powerful". A proverb in practically the same wording is found in
Radix malorum est cupiditas desire, inordinate longing or lust; covetousness", placing the weight firmly on the lecherous side of the reference of this word, which came into our language from Latin, and perhaps through French. That its biblical reference is to the desire of filthy lucre seems established, but to the Latin-literate medieval people the other cultural reference, to the desires of the flesh, must have been an alternative meaning. Radix malorum est cupiditas Radix malorum est cupiditas is a Biblical quotation in Latin that means "greed is the root of evil" (or, in sentence order, the root of evil is greed). This Latin