quotations about wisdom
Wisdom is oftimes nearer when we stoop
Than when we soar.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
The Excursion
Better to be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.
AESOP
"Juno and the Peacock", Aesop's Fables
If you desire to be wiser yet, think yourself not yet wise.
WELLINS CALCOTT
Thoughts Moral and Divine
The most exquisite Folly is made of Wisdom spun too fine.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Poor Richard's Almanack, 1746
What men call knowledge, is the reasoned acceptance of false appearances. Wisdom looks behind the veil and sees.
SRI AUROBINDO
Thoughts and Aphorisms
Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
King Lear
Wisdom is wisdom, wherever found.
G. DAVID NORDLEY
"The Fountain", Asimov's Science Fiction, June 1, 2013
Wisdom is the lost property of the believer.
MUHAMMAD
Muhammad: The Last Prophet
Beware of a leader who doesn't have scars or walk with a limp. One of the characteristics of a great leader is wisdom, and the best way to get wisdom is through experience. Normally that experience includes a few failures -- that's where battle scars and limps come from.
INGAR GREV
"Here's why companies don't want to hire people over the age of 40", The Business Journals, January 26, 2016
What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
Emile
Nothing doth more hurt in a state, than that cunning men pass for wise.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Cunning", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
The wise form right judgment of the present from what is past.
SOPHOCLES
attributed, Day's Collacon
All wisdom ends in paradox.
JEFFREY EUGENIDES
The Virgin Suicides
Many things imperfect by nature are made perfect by wisdom.
NICCOLO UZZANO
attributed, Day's Collacon
The hours of folly are measured by the clock, but of wisdom no clock can measure.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Proverbs of Hell
There are few who would need advisers, if they were only accustomed to appeal to themselves in their calmest, holiest moments. If, when embarrassed with doubt as to any course of action, they would turn aside from the immediate tumult of the world, and from the vain speaking of those who "darken counsel by words without knowledge;" and would then commune with their hearts alone, at night, the heavens their silent counsellors, they would act not always in accordance with the wise men of this world, but with that wisdom which bringeth peace.
ARTHUR HELPS
Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd
Wisdom is at all times the least burdensome traveling pack.
WILLIAM CAMDEN
attributed, Day's Collacon
Wisdom is inconceivable apart from something about which it can be called into operation.
SABINE BARING-GOULD
The Origin and Development of Religious Belief: Christianity
Wisdom teaches us to live content upon a bone gnawed bare.
ABRAHAM MILLER
Unmoral Maxims
A man remains ignorant because he loves ignorance, and chooses ignorant thoughts; a man becomes wise because he loves wisdom and chooses wise thoughts.
JAMES ALLEN
Above Life's Turmoil