quotations about wisdom
The wealth of mankind is the wisdom they leave.
JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY
"Rules of the Road"
Each of us knows all. We need only open our minds to hear our own wisdom.
DAN BROWN
Angels & Demons
The wise man is wise in vain who cannot be wise to his own advantage.
ENNIUS
attributed, De Officii
The wise man is but a clever infant spelling letters from a hierographical prophetic book, the lexicon of which lies in eternity.
THOMAS CARLYLE
attributed, Day's Collacon
In much wisdom is much grief.
BIBLE
Ecclesiastes 1:18
When wisdom leaves the house folly enters it.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
The sun of the mind, and the life of the heart is Wisdom.
She is pure and full of light, crowning grey hairs with lustre,
And kindling the eye of youth with a fire not its own.
MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER
Proverbial Philosophy
A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence.
DAVID HUME
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
He who understands the wise is wise already.
GEORG CHRISTOPH LICHTENBERG
"Notebook E", Aphorisms
Was not this ... what we spoke of as the great advantage of wisdom -- to know what is known and what is unknown to us?
PLATO
Charmides
Wise men know each other.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
The next thing to having wisdom ourselves, is to profit by that of others.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
The wise men were all fools, what to do?
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"Last to Die", Magic
We have all met people who seek wisdom so they can wear it like a lecturer wears his robes, clear proof that they "know" more than others. But spirituality is not about "having" more knowledge. It is about "being". A person can write eloquent novels about wisdom, but if they don't know how to "be" that, it means zilch.
DEVORAH HENDERSON
"Intro: Wisdom is Not Copyrighted", Walking Kabbalah
Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
King Lear
Wisdom is the never-failing granary of thought.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is safe.
BIBLE
Proverbs 28:26
Seen from the distance of 50 years, a lot of the assumed political wisdom is noteworthy mostly for just how wrong it was.
LILY ROTHMAN
"50 Years Ago This Week: Why the Presidential Campaign Starts Earlier Than Ever", Time, April 10, 2017
It is almost everywhere the case that soon after it is begotten the greater part of human wisdom is laid to rest in repositories.
GEORG CHRISTOPH LICHTENBERG
"Notebook K", Aphorisms
Wisdom is oftimes nearer when we stoop
Than when we soar.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
The Excursion