Scientia potentia est
The phrase "" (or "" or also "") is a Latin aphorism meaning "knowledge is power", commonly attributed to Sir Francis Bacon. The expression "" ('knowledge itself is power') occurs in Bacon's Meditationes Sacrae (1597). The exact phrase "" (knowledge is power) was written for the first time in the 1668 version of Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes, who was a secretary to Bacon as a young man. The related phrase "" is often translated as "wisdom is power". History Origins and parallels A proverb in practically the same wording is found in Hebrew, in the Biblical Book of Proverbs (24:5): . This was translated in the Latin Vulgata as "" and in the King James Version as "A wise man is strong, a man of knowledge increaseth strength". Thomas Hobbes The first known reference of the exact phrase appeared in the Latin edition of Leviathan (1668; the English version had been published in 1651). This passage from Part 1 ("De Homine"), Chapter X ("De Potentia, Dignitate et Honore") occurs in a list of various attributes of man which constitute power; in this list, "sciences" or "the sciences" are given a minor position: In the English version this passage reads as