Scientia potentia est that with knowledge or education, one's potential or abilities in life will certainly increase. Having and sharing knowledge is widely recognized as the basis for improving one's reputation and influence, thus power. This phrase may also be used as a justification for a reluctance to share information when a person believes that withholding knowledge can deliver to that person some forms of advantage. Another interpretation is that the only true power is knowledge, as everything (including any achievement) is derived from it. Terry Brooks. "First King of Shannara" Ballantine. C. 1996 Scientia potentia est The phrase "scientia potentia est"" (or
Scientia potentia est knowing and the power of working and acting, the opposite of what is assumed when the maxim is taken out of context. Indeed, the quotation has become a cliche. In another place, Bacon wrote, "Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. Nature to be commanded must be obeyed; and that which in contemplation is as the cause is in operation as the rule." Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in his essay "Old Age", included in the collection "Society and Solitude" (1870): After the 1871, unification of Germany, ""Wissen