That seems to mean, without further context and taken at face value: people are difficult to oppress/enslave because they have too much knowledge to be controlled to their detriment.
Who knows? Maybe that's dry humor or sarcasm.
Could also mean individuals have been created through knowledge and that sounds like a positive, not a negative. If someone can acquire knowledge, are they also intelligent?
Edit: I was going for a joke in the last paragraph, wife thought it was offensive, so instead of:
"Not that I don't trust every word I read here or on the Internet proper, but without going to get a book or three, I have no idea if what you quoted is true or not."
I use this:
I'm not familiar with that quote.