know it all

Have you ever met someone who is a know-it-all? This would appear to be a desirable trait and a person to be sought out and inquired of, since knowledge has value and confers power. Yet have you ever heard this term used as a compliment? Doesn’t it rather refer to someone who is full of half-truths, opinions, and endless arguments, that you prefer to avoid? Such people are full of pride, contention, and strife, so perhaps it would be better to refer to them as a no-it-all. My word says that knowledge puffs up, and you can see the evidence of it. Yet don’t you also observe that the truly wise and knowledgeable are eager to listen and learn? Blessed are those who know they know in part.