Speech Writing

Good evening, everyone! I appreciate your presence here today and I would like to start out
today’s session by asking you question, “Is information knowledge, and what is wisdom?”. I
would like you to ponder on this very thought, think about it, what is the quintessential
difference between information and knowledge and wisdom?
I would like to introduce to this popular quote by Albert Einstein, “Information is not
knowledge; knowledge is not wisdom and wisdom is nothing without love”. First off, to
understand what this quote means, we need to establish what information, knowledge, and of
course wisdom is. Information, according to the dictionary is this, “facts provided or learned
about something or someone”, knowledge, “facts, information, and skills acquired through
experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.”, wisdom “the
quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgement; the quality of being wise.”.
So, as you can see, you must acquire information, to be knowledgeable, and knowledge to
wield wisdom. There is a gap between information and knowledge and before it matures into
wisdom, there most likely needs to be some time, experience, and application, before it
slowly ferments into wisdom.

Then we get to the second part of this quote, “wisdom is nothing without love”. Like we did
with the first part of it, we must dissect it, to really understand it. Love by definition, is a
great interest and pleasure in something and you can’t wield wisdom in something, without
having a great interest or pleasure in it. Now you may be wondering, what does this have to
do with my life? Well, I have the answer to your very question. We all have knowledge, even
if it is a bit obscure. After all, how useful is knowing alternate positions for playing notes on
a trombone? But if we care, and notice someone struggling to move quickly and smoothly
between notes, and we give them knowledge, isn’t that wisdom? Substitute some other skill
in that example, and you see why love, or at least concern, is a necessary part. If you had no
emotional bond, if there was no love at all, why would you even bother to stop and mention
that there is another way, perhaps a better way? Knowledge without action is not of much
use. Is knowledge without compassion or love any better? It might be worse. So that rests my
case, actually Einstein’s case, that Information is not knowledge; knowledge is not wisdom
and wisdom is nothing without love. Thank you so much, for listening and I hope you can
apply this to your own lives.