Scientia potentia est Scientia potentia est The phrase "scientia potentia est"" (or "scientia est potentia" or also "scientia potestas est")" is a Latin aphorism meaning "knowledge is power". It is commonly attributed to Sir Francis Bacon, although there is no known occurrence of this precise phrase in Bacon's English or Latin writings. However, the expression ""ipsa scientia potestas est"" ('knowledge itself is power') occurs in Bacon's "Meditationes Sacrae" (1597). The exact phrase ""scientia potentia est"" was written for the first time in the 1668 version of the work "Leviathan" by Thomas Hobbes, who was secretary to Bacon as a young man. The related
Subsistit in Subsistit in Subsistit in (subsists in) is a Latin phrase, which appears in the eighth paragraph of "Lumen gentium," a landmark document of the Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church: This sentence and the correct meaning of "subsists in" affects the "definition of the Church" with important implications for how the Catholic Church views itself, its relations with other Christian communities and other religions. Questions have been raised, if "Lumen gentium" reworded the longstanding phrase, which stated that the Church of Christ is (Latin "est") the Catholic Church. "Lumen gentium" does recognize that other Christian ecclesial communities have elements