Wisdom Quotations

You can't sweep other people off their feet, if you can't be swept off your own.

The intellect of the wise is like glass; it admits the light of heaven and reflects it.

A beautiful woman delights the eye; a wise woman, the understanding; a pure one, the soul.

It is costly wisdom that is bought by experience.

It isn't what they say about you, it's what they whisper.

In youth we learn; in age we understand.

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who'll argue with you.

The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

The wise man doesn't give the right answers, he poses the right questions.

Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.

From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own.

O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.

The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.

Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.

I never learned from a man who agreed with me.

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity.

Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?

We carry within us the wonders we seek without us.

Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due.

Step with care and great tact, and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.

Adventure is not outside man; it is within.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched.

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

There is only one rule for being a good talker - learn to listen.

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.

Things don't have to change the world to be important.

If moderation is a fault, then indifference is a crime.

You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.

Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor.

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.

It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.

We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.

I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.

The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.

The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.

When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain.

Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.

A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books.

Words do two major things: They provide food for the mind and create light for understanding and awareness.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.

Patience is the companion of wisdom.

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.

We did not all come over on the same ship, but we are all in the same boat.

I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.

Wisdom alone is true ambition's aim, wisdom the source of virtue, and of fame, obtained with labour, for mankind employed, and then, when most you share it, best enjoyed.

Most people in the Western world grow up with the received wisdom that Mozart was a genius. But few people necessarily know why. More than anyone else, he captured this something which is the human condition, the fine line that we all constantly dance between joy and pain, between absolute happiness and absolute heartbreak.

Information is not knowledge, and knowledge is not wisdom. Reading - even browsing - an old book can yield sustenance denied by a database search. Patience is a virtue, gluttony a sin.

A proverb is the wisdom of many and the wit of one.

Lord, bless me with the ability to achieve all that I can, and the wisdom to realize it doesn't all have to be by tomorrow!

The tradition is a fence around the law; tithes are a fence around riches; vows are a fence around abstinence; a fence around wisdom is silence.

The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.

Wisdom is a kind of knowledge. It is knowledge of the nature, career, and consequences of human values.

Science is always discovering odd scraps of magical wisdom and making a tremendous fuss about its cleverness.

Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.

Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men.

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.

Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it.

We live in a society bloated with data yet starved for wisdom. We're connected 24/7, yet anxiety, fear, depression and loneliness is at an all-time high. We must course-correct.

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.

All human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope

Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die.

Some of the best lessons we ever learn are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom and success of the future.

Losing faith in your own singularity is the start of wisdom, I suppose; also the first announcement of death.

The greatest scholars are not usually the wisest people.

Wisdom denotes the pursuing of the best ends by the best means.

But in its final creation it was not the part of the Father's power to fail as though exhausted. It was not the part of His wisdom to waver in a needful matter through poverty of counsel.

Preconceived notions are the locks on the door to wisdom.

All television is educational television. The question is: what is it teaching?

The drops of rain make a hole in the stone not by violence but by oft falling.

I actually think with age comes some level of wisdom.

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

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.

Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.

Language... has created the word 'loneliness' to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word 'solitude' to express the glory of being alone.

Those who know how to win are much more numerous than those who know how to make proper use of their victories.

When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.

Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.