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
De gustibus non est disputandum ancient Latin adage, i.e. Roman, and discussed by many philosophers and economists. The phrase is misquoted in Act I of Anton Chekhov's play "The Seagull". The character Shamrayev conflates it with the phrase "de mortuis nil nisi bonum" (in the alternate form: "de mortuis, aut bene aut nihil": "of the dead, either [speak] good or [say] nothing"), resulting in "de gustibus aut bene, aut nihil", "Let nothing be said of taste but what is good." De gustibus non est disputandum De gustibus non est disputandum, or de gustibus non disputandum est, is a Latin maxim meaning "In matters of taste,