" To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.
"
- Lao Tzu The best thing is to know the answer, while thinking that you do not know.
Mistakenly being sure that you know the answer in cases where you actually do not know the answer will lead to difficulty.
ell.stackexchange.com/users/26296/Euan M
Breaking it up a little: "To know | yet to think that one does not know | is best; Not to know | yet to think that one knows | will lead to difficulty."
The two phrases are alike but reversed:
Knowing while not thinking that one knows is good.
Not knowing while thinking that one knows is bad.
ell.stackexchange.com/users/20120/modulusshift
The sentence can be changed like this: " The fact that you know something
but you believe you don't know it is better than the fact that you don't know anything
but you tell everybody you know.
The second fact might cause trouble."
ell.stackexchange.com/users/25687/V.V.
In the original post's quotation, the word "not" just negates "to know".
The negation turns "something you know" (a "known") into "something you do not know" (an "unknown"). "not to know" is on the opposite side of the "yet" conjunction from "to think that one knows".
As Donald Rumsfeld explained : There are known knowns.
These are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns.
That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns.
There are things we don't know we don't know.
Lao Tzu was saying it is better to be underconfident
(not trust that you know something) than to be overconfident (to think you know something, but be wrong).
ell.stackexchange.com/users/9100/Jasper
Better to question, than to think you have the only answer.
ell.stackexchange.com/users/27126/Alocyte
" To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet  to think that one knows will lead to difficulty ." Lao Tzu  Source   I could not understand this quote since the words are not very clear.  For example, does the word "Not" negate the whole "to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty"?  Can someone explain it?
What does this saying mean? "To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty."
ell.stackexchange.com
<sentence-meaning><conjunctions><negation>
ell.stackexchange.com/questions/74563
ell.stackexchange.com/users/22478/Tom
This means that it is better to question, than to think you have the only answer. Knowing while not thinking that one knows is good. Not knowing while thinking that one knows is bad. It is better to question than to think you have the only answer.
It is better to question than to think you have the only answer.