Motivational Quotes

Wisdom

The foolish sayings of a rich man pass for wise ones.

- Proverb, Spanish

Best Quotes about Wisdom

Raphael paints wisdom; Handel sings it, Phidias carves it, Shakespeare writes it, Wren builds it, Columbus sails it, Luther preaches it, Washington arms it, Watt mechanizes it.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

He swallowed a lot of wisdom, but all of it seems to have gone down the wrong way.

Lichtenberg, Georg C.

The growth of wisdom may be gauged exactly by the diminution of ill temper.

Nietzsche, Friedrich

The only thing that we know is that we know nothing and that is the highest flight of human wisdom.

Tolstoy, Count Leo

Like an ability or a muscle, hearing your inner wisdom is strengthened by doing it.

Robbie Gass

It seems to me that, in every culture, I come across a chapter headed Wisdom. And then I know exactly what is going to follow: Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

Wittgenstein, Ludwig

The ultimate wisdom which deals with beginnings, remains locked in a seed. There it lies, the simplest fact of the universe and at the same time the one which calls faith rather than reason.

Borland, Hal

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. [1 Corinthians 3:18-19]

Bible

Wisdom comes by disillusionment.

Santayana, George

10.

Kings may be judges of the earth, but wise men are the judges of kings.

Gabirol, Ibn

11.

There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest.

Confucius

12.

Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know -- and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance. It is better to know -- even if the knowledge endures only for the moment that comes before destruction -- than to gain eternal life at the price of a dull and swinish lack of comprehension of a universe that swirls unseen before us in all its wonder. That was the choice of Achilles, and it is mine, too.

Asimov, Isaac

13.

As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

14.

Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life -- in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.

Seneca

15.

Through wisdom is a house built; and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge shall every room be filled with precious and pleasant riches.

Bible

16.

Wisdom is nothing more than healed pain.

Lee, Robert E.

17.

There often seems to be a playfulness to wise people, as if either their equanimity has as its source this playfulness or the playfulness flows from the equanimity; and they can persuade other people who are in a state of agitation to calm down and manage a smile.

Hoagland, Edward

18.

True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.

Socrates

19.

Look at those they call unfortunate and at a closer view, you'll find many of them are unwise.

Young, Andrew

20.

The Universe is one great kindergarten for man. Everything that exists has brought with it its own peculiar lesson. The mountain teaches stability and grandeur; the ocean immensity and change. Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes, -- every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man. Even the bee and ant have brought their little lessons of industry and economy.

Marden, Orison Swett

21.

Everything I know I learned after I was thirty.

Clemenceau, Georges

22.

A wise man thinks what is easy is difficult.

Collins, John Churton

23.

Wise are they who have learned these truths: Trouble is temporary. Time is a tonic. Tribulation is a test tube.

24.

A wise man will see to it that his acts always seem voluntary and not done by compulsion, however much he may be compelled by necessity.

Machiavelli, Niccolo

25.

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all your getting get understanding.

Bible

26.

Wisdom is knowing when to speak your mind and when to mind your speech.

Evangel

27.

Not by age but by capacity is wisdom acquired.

Titus Maccius Plautus

28.

Wisdom is like electricity. There is no permanently wise man, but men capable of wisdom, who, being put into certain company, or other favorable conditions, become wise for a short time, as glasses rubbed acquire electric power for a while.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

29.

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.

Bacon, Francis

30.

As irrigators lead water where they want, as archers make their arrows straight, as carpenters carve wood, the wise shape their minds.

Buddha

31.

A wise woman puts a grain of sugar into everything she says to a man, and takes a grain of salt with everything he says to her.

Rowland, Helen

32.

Beauty is the wisdom of women. Wisdom is the beauty of men.

Proverb, Chinese

33.

Wise care keeps what it has gained.

Proverb, Danish

34.

By others faults the wise correct their own.

Proverb

35.

No man is wise enough by himself.

Titus Maccius Plautus

36.

Wisdom overcomes fortune.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

37.

A single conversation across the table with a wise man is worth a month's study of books.

Proverb, Chinese

38.

The live in wisdom who see themselves in all and all in them, who have renounced every selfish desire and sense craving tormenting the heart.

Bhagavad Gita

39.

Wisdom is learning what to overlook.

James, William

40.

Wisdom alone is the science of others sciences.

Plato

41.

Wise men still seek Him today.

Bell, Dan

42.

The greatest event for the world is the arrival of a new and wise person.

Carlyle, Thomas

43.

It is not wise to be wiser than necessary.

Quinault, Philippe

44.

Wisdom makes a slow defense against trouble, though a sure one in the end.

Goldsmith, Oliver

45.

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. [Proverbs 3:13-15]

Bible

46.

No one over thirty-five is worth meeting who has not something to teach us, --something more than we could learn for ourselves, from a book.

Connolly, Cyril

47.

This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

48.

Wisdom is meaningless until our own experience has given it meaning.

Evans, Bergen

49.

The wisest have the most authority.