Full Idea
You will come nearer to the knowledge and comprehension of God by the negative attributes.
Gist of Idea
We can approach knowledge of God by negative attributes
Source
Moses Maimonides (The Guide of the Perplexed [1190], p.86), quoted by Brian Davies - Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion 2 'Negation'
Book Reference
Davies,Brian: 'An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion' [OUP 1993], p.24
A Reaction
Illustrated by grasping what a ship is by eliminating other categories it might belong to. The assumption is that you have a known and finite list - something like Aristotle's categories. Maimonides fears we know too little for positive attributes.
Related Ideas
Idea 3311 The categories (substance, quality, quantity, relation, action, passion, place, time) peter out inconsequentially [Benardete,JA on Aristotle]
Idea 13121 Substance,Quantity,Quality,Relation,Place,Time,Being-in-a-position,Having,Doing,Being affected [Aristotle, by Westerhoff]