A little learning is a dangerous thing
This proverbial line of Pope is directed against half-informed or misinformed quacks of all trades and professions. Let us illustrate the dangers involved in little learning by taking a field of knowledge where the results are readily and concretely visible. A doctor, who does not possess a sound knowledge of the art of healing, is more qualified to kill than to cure his patients. A Sanskrit saying likens a physician to the brother of Death. The God of death only kills, the physician takes away money first and then kills. There is the story of poet Goldsmith who took pride in calling himself a doctor and boasted that he had taken his degree in medicine from some continental university. Once he was requested by someone to prescribe him a medicine. The Doctor tried to excuse himself by saying that he prescribed only for his friends: but one of his friends remarked ‘Pray doctor, I prescribe only for your enemies.’ This story brings out the truth of Pope’s saying that a little learning is a very dangerous thing at times.
