If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it.

The image of one candle lighting another frames knowledge as something that grows when shared rather than diminished by giving. Fuller’s aphorism urges intellectual generosity: learning carries an ethical obligation to teach, mentor, publish, or otherwise make insight available so others can “kindle” their own understanding. It also implies a democratic ideal of education—knowledge should not be hoarded as status or power, but circulated to expand collective capacity. The phrasing suggests that others do not merely borrow your light; they ignite their own, becoming independent sources of illumination. In that sense, the quote champions both community and self-reliance through the transmission of ideas.