Context

Chapter 13 of Frankenstein, and the woe-is-me monster is at it again. He's been watching this family through their window for a while (totally not creepy), and he's learning about history from the book, Ruins of Empires, that Felix uses to teach Safie. It's good and bad: it helps him understand the world, but it also reminds him that he can't really participate in that world. 

He's ugly and different and alone, and now he really knows it.

Where you've heard it

Ever read the news? Then you know what it feels like to have "sorrow" increase with "knowledge." The more we know, the more aware we are of all the terrible things going on in the world.

Hey, no one said it was uplifting.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Claiming that knowledge can be profoundly sad sounds like something an emo academic might say, but since we're dealing with our shunned monster, we'll cut him some slack.