Wisdom Quotes
Most popular wisdom quotes
Science may be learned by rote, but Wisdom not.
The true mark of a well-educated man is that he never tries to answer a question before being asked to do so.
To question a wise man is the beginning of wisdom.
A prudent question is one half of wisdom.
If a wise man's way you wisely seek, Five things observe with care: Of whom you speak, to whom you speak, And how, and when, and where.
I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.
A wise man is superior to any insults which may be put upon him.
We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are.
Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
When we shift attention from experience to the spacious consciousness that knows, wisdom arises.
Wisdom knows what feelings are present without being lost in them.
Hope resides in the future, while perspective and wisdom are almost always found by looking to the past.
The most important things in life aren't things.
A wise man turns chance into good fortune.
What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?
Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.
Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it.
Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar.
Wisdom at times is found in folly.
Wisdom begins in wonder.
Wisdom comes by disillusionment.
Wisdom comes alone through suffering.
It is the duty of a wise man to foresee evil and to prevent it.
It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body.
It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.
The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
We do not need more knowledge but more wisdom. Wisdom comes from our own attention.
Even death is not to be feared by he who has lived wisely.
The wise man reads both books and life itself.
Patience is the companion of wisdom.
There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.
Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.
There's no joy even in beautiful Wisdom, unless one have holy Health.
True strength is the flower of Wisdom, but its seed is action.
To admit you don't know everything is the first step on the road to wisdom.
Some children are wiser than adults.
Cleverness is not wisdom.
By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is the easiest; and third, by experience, which is the bitterest.
Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know.
To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
There is little room left for wisdom when one is full of judgment.
A wise man never knows all, only fools know everything.
Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.
It requires wisdom to understand wisdom; the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.
The value of experience is not in seeing much, but in seeing wisely.
Experience is what you get looking for something else.
We know nothing of what will happen in future, but by the analogy of experience.
When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.
We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.
I know no wise person who doesn't read a lot.
Acknowledging what you don't know is the dawning of wisdom.
Never bet your money on another man's game.
We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it — and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again — and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.
Old age, they say, is the seat of wisdom. The old ones have the wisdom that they have earned from walking through life, like old Simeon and Anna at the temple, whose wisdom allowed them to recognize Jesus. Let us give with wisdom to the youth: like good wine that improves with age, let us give the youth the wisdom of our lives.
Everyone complains of his memory, and nobody complains of his judgment.
One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few.
Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk.
No man was ever wise by chance.
Science at best is not wisdom; it is knowledge. Wisdom is knowledge tempered with judgment.
The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself he becomes wise.
Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.
The wise person questions himself, the fool others.
The most manifest sign of wisdom is continued cheerfulness.
The art of living consists in knowing which impulses to obey and which must be made to obey.
Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences.
Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it.
The more a man knows, the more he forgives.
Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.
It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.
People far prefer happiness to wisdom, but that is like wanting to be immortal without getting older.
Learning sleeps and snores in libraries, but wisdom is everywhere, wide awake, on tiptoe.
The first sign of maturity is the discovery that the volume knob also turns to the left.
The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.
The older I grow, the more I listen to people who don't talk much.
Expect people to be better than they are; it helps them to become better. But don't be disappointed when they are not; it helps them to keep trying.
It is wise to remember that you are one of those who can be fooled some of the time.
There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man.
There are 40 kinds of lunacy, but only one kind of common sense.
Preconceived notions are the locks on the door to wisdom.
He who truly knows has no occasion to shout.
A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth the first time he bites off more than he can chew.
Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom.
A good traveler is one who does not know where he is going. A perfect traveler does not know where he came from.
Fools live to regret their words, wise men to regret their silence.
Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
Before strongly desiring anything, we should look carefully into the happiness of its present owner.
The foolish person seeks happiness in the distance; the wise person grows it under his feet.
Silence is true wisdom's best reply.
Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time.
Some folks are wise and some are otherwise.
Be happy. It's one way of being wise.
Kisses are a better fate than wisdom.
When you know how to listen everyone is the guru.
The wise don't expect lo find life worth living; they make it that way.
Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure.
A short saying oft contains much wisdom.
Caution is the eldest child of wisdom.
The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.
In order to act wisely it is not enough to be wise.
We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world.
Self reflection is the school of wisdom.
Who is wise? He that learns from every One. Who is powerful? He that governs his Passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.
If one is too lazy to think, too vain to do a thing badly, too cowardly to admit it, one will never attain wisdom.
It is better to be wise than to seem wise.
Wisdom is greater than knowledge, for wisdom includes knowledge and the due use of it.
To my extreme mortification I grow wiser every day.
The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.
LEST FOOLS SHOULD FAIL True wisdom knows it must comprise some nonsense as a compromise, lest fools should fail to find it wise.
The road to wisdom? -- Well, it's plain and simple to express: Err and err and err again but less and less and less.
Wisdom is the booby prize given when you've been unwise.
For many system shoppers it's a good-for-nothing system that classifies as opposites stupidity and wisdom. because by logic-choppers it's accepted with avidity: stupidity's true opposite's the opposite stupidity.
If you knew what you will know when your candle has burnt low, it would greatly ease your plight while your candle still burns bright.
To know how to grow old is the masterwork of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.
They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.
Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences—and I remind you that consequences can be both good and bad.
Curiosity is the beginning of wisdom.
We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success; we often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.
The most exquisite folly is made of wisdom spun too fine.
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day. Wisdom consists in not exceeding that limit.
Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance.
Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.
Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.
Knowledge shrinks as wisdom grows.
Wisdom hath her excesses, and no less need of moderation than folly.
The attempt to combine wisdom and power has only rarely been successful, and then only for a short while.
A wise man's question contains half the answer.
Science is organized knowledge, wisdom is organized life.
I am on the side of those who believe that vice comes from stupidity and consequently that the nearer one draws to wisdom the farther one gets from vice.
People get wisdom from thinking, not from learning.
Wisdom makes but a slow defense against trouble, though at last a sure one.
Whether the succeeding generation is to be more virtuous than their predecessors, I cannot say; but I am sure they will have more worldly wisdom, and enough, I hope, to know that honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.
Wisdom that don't make us happier ain't worth plowing for.
Mixing one's wines may be a mistake, but old and new wisdom mix admirably.
Youth is harmed by having wisdom thrust upon it. Youth must gather wisdom slowly, in laughter and tears.
Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious.
All human wisdom is summed up in these two words—Wait and Hope.
I wish there were shortcuts to wisdom and self-knowledge: cuter abysses or three-day spa wilderness experiences. Sadly, it doesn't work that way. I so resent this.
It is easier to be wise for others than for one's self.
The steadfastness of the wise is but the art of keeping their agitation locked in their hearts.
Wisdom is a solid and entire building, of which every piece keeps its place and bears its mark.
Humanity has to travel a hard road to wisdom, and it has to travel it with bleeding feet.
People are never so near playing the fool as when they think themselves wise.
The growth of wisdom may be gauged exactly by the diminution of ill temper.
To understand the actual world as it is, not as we should wish it to be, is the beginning of wisdom.
Wisdom never kicks at the iron walls it can't bring down.
Wisdom is experience employed effectively.
It is characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
Wisdom—meaning judgment acting on experience, common sense, available knowledge, and a decent appreciation of probability.
Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop Than when we soar.
The perfection of wisdom, and the end of true philosophy, is to proportion our wants to our possessions, our ambitions to our capacities.
Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.
A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune, and favour cannot satisfy him.
Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart.
By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
Knowledge is merely brilliance in organization of ideas and not wisdom. The truly wise person goes beyond knowledge.
The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name.
The man of wisdom is never of two minds; the man of benevolence never worries; the man of courage is never afraid.
Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.
Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents.
Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use.
A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study.
Common-sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Every wise man lives in an observatory.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can change, And wisdom to know the difference.
He dares to be a fool, and that is the first step in the direction of wisdom.
I believe that all wisdom consists in caring immensely for a few right things, and not caring a straw about the rest.
If wisdom and diamonds grew on the same tree we could soon tell how much men loved wisdom.
It is more easy to be wise for others than for ourselves.
Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.
Remedy it, or welcome it: a wise man's only two choices.
There is a wisdom of the head, and ... a wisdom of the heart.
We can be Knowledgeable with other men's knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom.
Wisdom begins at the end.
Wisdom outweighs any wealth.
We shall not grow wiser before we learn that much that we have done was very foolish.
A fool is no less a fool when a wise man errs.
Science asks, "What can we know?" Practicality asks, "What can we do?" Morality asks, "How shall we behave?" Religion asks, "What will we believe?" Wisdom alone is silent.
Wisdom never comes from thinking. Wisdom comes from silence.
To be respected as you advance in age, you must be independent, preferably rich, physically strong, and threatening to those who f**k with you. If you're not powerful they will never call you "wise".
Real sagacity is when you know what your enemy will try to do to you even before he or she comes up with the thought.
Wisdom is knowing what to worry about and what to ignore.
