There is no wealth like knowledge, and no poverty like ignorance.

The saying contrasts material wealth with a deeper, more durable “wealth”: understanding. In a Buddhist frame, “knowledge” is best read not as mere information but as insight into reality—especially wisdom that reduces suffering by dispelling delusion. “Ignorance” (often treated in Buddhism as a root cause of suffering) is portrayed as the most debilitating poverty because it impoverishes one’s capacity to act skillfully, see clearly, and cultivate liberation. The aphorism thus elevates inner development over external accumulation and implies that education, reflection, and contemplative insight are forms of capital that cannot be stolen and that transform one’s life conditions from within.