Motivational Quotes

Wisdom

The experience gathered from books, though often valuable, is but the nature of learning; whereas the experience gained from actual life is one of the nature of wisdom.

- Smiles, Samuel

Best Quotes about Wisdom

The beginning of wisdom is to desire it.

Gabirol, Ibn

What a wonderful world this would be if there were as many wise people as there are clever people.

The wise man can pick up a grain of sand and envision a whole universe. But the stupid man will just lay down on some seaweed and roll around in it until he's completely draped in it. Then he'll stand up and go hey, I'm Vine Man.

Handey, Jack

Wisdom is nothing more than healed pain.

Lee, Robert E.

Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without.

Edmund Burke

Nine times out of ten it is over the Bridge of Sighs that we pass the narrow gulf from youth to manhood. That interval is usually marked by an ill placed or disappointed affection. We recover and we find ourselves a new being. The intellect has become hardened by the fire through which it has passed. The mind profits by the wrecks of every passion, and we may measure our road to wisdom by the sorrows we have undergone.

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G.

If I don't have wisdom, I can teach you only ignorance.

Buscaglia, Leo

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.

Bacon, Francis

We have no words for speaking of wisdom to the stupid. He who understands the wise is wise already.

Lichtenberg, Georg C.

10.

Wisdom is not attained by years, but by ability.

Plautus, Titus Maccius

11.

Understanding the limitations of human beings as well as understanding your own is the beginning of true wisdom.

12.

It is great folly to wish to be wise all alone.

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

13.

By others faults the wise correct their own.

Proverb

14.

When you move amidst the world of sense, free from attachment and aversion alike, there comes the peace in which all sorrows end, and you life in the wisdom of the Self.

Bhagavad Gita

15.

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

Proverb, Spanish

16.

Though wisdom cannot be gotten for gold, still less can be gotten without it.

Butler, Samuel

17.

Even though you know a thousand things, ask the man who knows one.

Proverb, Turkish

18.

The wisest man is he who does not fancy that he is so at all.

Boileau, Nicholas

19.

The mistakes of the fool are known to the world, but not to himself. The mistakes of the wise man are known to himself, but not to the world.

Colton, Charles Caleb

20.

It is not white hair that engenders wisdom.

Menander

21.

A word to the wise is not sufficient if it doesn't make sense.

Thurber, James

22.

The wise man says it cannot be done, but the fool goes and does it.

23.

To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.

Marilyn vos Savant

24.

Some folks are wise and some otherwise.

Billings, Josh

25.

Wisdom is perishable. Unlike information or knowledge, it cannot be stored in a computer or recorded in a book. It expires with each passing generation.

Taylor, Sid

26.

The wise person has long ears and a short tongue.

Proverb, German

27.

It is not from reason that justice springs, but goodness is born of wisdom.

Maeterlinck, Maurice

28.

Wisdom is your perspective on life, your sense of balance, your understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to each other. It embraces judgment, discernment, comprehension. It is a gestalt or oneness, and integrated wholeness.

Covey, Stephen R.

29.

Wisdom is learning what to overlook.

James, William

30.

Committing a great truth to memory is admirable; committing it to life is wisdom.

Ward, William A.

31.

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

Goldsmith, Oliver

32.

The wise man sees in the misfortune of others what he should avoid.

Aurelius, Marcus

33.

It's the height of folly to want to be the only wise one.

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

34.

The wise have always said the same things, and fools, who are the majority have always done just the opposite.

Schopenhauer, Arthur

35.

What is the price of experience? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price of all the man hath, his house, his wife, his children.

Blake, William

36.

No man is wise enough by himself.

Titus Maccius Plautus

37.

A nation's treasure is its scholars.

Proverb, Yiddish

38.

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

Nietzsche, Friedrich

39.

Wisdom is found only in truth.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

40.

The wisdom of a learned man comet by opportunity of leisure: and he that hath little business shall become wise. [Ecclesiasticus 38:25]

Bible

41.

Timing, degree and conviction are the three wise men in this life.

Fitzhenry, R. I.

42.

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

Young, Andrew

43.

Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.

Confucius

44.

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

45.

A wise man never knows all, only fools know everything

Proverb, African

46.

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

Tolstoy, Count Leo

47.

The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.

Blake, William

48.

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

49.

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

50.

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

Socrates