Better to know a few things which are good and necessary than many things which are useless and mediocre. — Leo Tolstoy

Better to know a few things which are good and necessary than many things which are useless and mediocre.

Author: Leo Tolstoy

Insight: We live in an age of infinite information, yet most of us feel less capable, not more. We accumulate knowledge the way we accumulate apps on our phones—downloading constantly but using maybe three regularly. Tolstoy's point cuts deeper than just being selective about what you read. He's suggesting that real competence and wisdom come from depth, not breadth. A person who truly understands how to grow food, fix a broken thing, or listen well to another person often seems more grounded than someone who knows a little about everything and can recite facts endlessly. The tricky part is that our brains don't always recognize the difference between useful knowledge and the feeling of being informed. Scrolling through interesting articles creates a sense of growth that actually masquerades as learning. But knowing one skill well enough to teach someone else, or understanding a single subject deeply enough to make real decisions about it—that's the kind of knowledge that actually changes how you move through the world. What matters isn't how much you know. It's whether what you know actually serves you or someone else.

Source: On Life, p. 244, 1887