best quotations about
Wisdom |
| 81 quotes | Visits: 4,145 |
Quotations
 | Those who wish to appear wise among fools, they seem foolish among the wise. — Quintilian, 35-96 AD, Roman rhetorician 23 likes |
 | What wisdom can you find greater than kindness. — Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778, Swiss-French philosopher 16 likes |
 | The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. — William Shakespeare, 1564-1616, English poet & playwright ‐ As You Like It 16 likes |
 | Our wisdom comes from our experience, and our experience comes from our foolishness. — Sacha Guitry, 1885-1957, French writer 13 likes |
 | Be wiser than other people if you can; but do not tell them so. — Lord Chesterfield, 1694-1773, English statesman & writer 9 likes |
 | Wisdom and foolishness are practically the same. Both are indifferent to the opinions of the world. — Joseph Campbell, 1904-1987, American academic 9 likes |
 | I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone. — Rainer Maria Rilke, 1875-1926, Czech-German poet 8 likes |
 | Knowledge is power but only wisdom is liberty. — Will Durant, 1885-1981, American historian & philosopher 7 likes |
 | Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1772-1834, English poet & philosopher 6 likes |
 | The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook. — William James, 1842-1910, American philosopher 6 likes |
 | We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us. — Marcel Proust, 1871-1922, French writer 5 likes |
 | Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often a result of lack of wisdom. — Terry Pratchett, 1948-2015, British writer 5 likes |
 | I will give you a definition of a proud man: he is a man who has neither vanity nor wisdom; one filled with hatreds cannot be vain, neither can he be wise. — John Keats, 1795-1821, English poet 5 likes |
 | Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. — Alfred Tennyson, 1809-1892, English poet 5 likes |
 | We can be knowledgeable with other men's knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom. — Michel de Montaigne, 1533-1592, French thinker 4 likes |
 | Never does Nature say one thing and Wisdom another. — Juvenal, 1st-2nd cent. AD, Roman satiric poet 4 likes |
 | The reason we go to poetry is not for wisdom, but for the dismantling of wisdom. — Jacques Lacan, 1901-1981, French psychoanalyst 4 likes |
 | Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life. — Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962, Wife of the 32nd USA president 4 likes |
 | Tis better for thee to be wise and not seem so, than to seem wise and not be so: Yet Men, for the most Part, desire and endeavor the contrary. — Dr. Thomas Fuller, 1654-1734, English physician and adage collector 4 likes |
 | If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise. — William Blake, 1757-1827, English poet & painter 3 likes |
 | The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1884, American philosopher 3 likes |
 | Cherish wisdom as a means of travelling from youth to old age, for it is more lasting than any other possession. — Bias of Priene, 625-540 BC, one of the 7 sages of Ancient Greece 3 likes |
 | You can never be wise unless you love reading. — Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, English writer 3 likes |
 | It is a great folly to wish to be wise alone. — La Rochefoucauld, 1613-1680, French writer 3 likes |
 | Wisdom comes not from reason but from love. — André Gide, 1869-1951, French writer, Nobel 1947 3 likes |
 | Wisdom lies in taking everything with good humor and a grain of salt. — George Santayana, 1863-1952, Spanish-American philosopher 3 likes |
 | Wisdom and knowledge exist so we can distinguish right from wrong. — Rumi, 1207-1273, Persian mystic & poet 3 likes |
 | Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it. — Doug Larson, 1926-2017, American columnist 3 likes |
 | For war to disappear, men would have to become either cowards or wise. — Jean Rostand, 1894-1977, French scientist & philosopher 3 likes |
 | Before you become too entranced with gorgeous gadgets and mesmerizing video displays, let me remind you that information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, and wisdom is not foresight. Each grows out of the other, and we need them all. — Arthur Clarke, 1917-2008, British Sci-Fi writer 3 likes |
 | 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. — Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1889-1951, Austrian philosopher 3 likes |
 | By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. — Confucius, 551-479 BC, Chinese teacher & philosopher 3 likes |
 | Back of every mistaken venture and defeat is the laughter of wisdom, if you listen. — Carl Sandburg, 1878-1967, American poet 2 likes |
 | There is a wisdom of the Head, and … there is a wisdom of the Heart. — Charles Dickens, 1812-1870, British writer 2 likes |
| There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1884, American philosopher 2 likes |
 | Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes a day. Wisdom consists of not exceeding the limit. — Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American writer 2 likes |
 | Solomon made a great mistake when he asked for wisdom. — Anton Chekhov, 1860-1904, Russian writer 2 likes |
 | There is this difference between happiness and wisdom, that he that thinks himself the happiest man, really is so; but he who thinks himself the wisest, is generally the greatest fool. — Charles Caleb Colton, 1780-1832, English cleric & writer 2 likes |
 | To wisdom belongs the intellectual apprehension of things eternal; to knowledge, the rational apprehension of things temporal. — Saint Augustine, 354-430, Christian theologian & philosopher 2 likes |
 | To realize the unimportance of time is the gate to wisdom. |
| A loving heart is the truest wisdom. |
 | Understanding the limitations of human beings is the beginning of wisdom. |
 | It is easy for men to write and talk like philosophers, but to act with wisdom, there is the rub! |
 | Seek wisdom rather than the truth. It is more within our reach. |
| Illusion and wisdom combined are the charm of life and art. |
| Old age takes from the man of intellect no qualities save those that are useless to wisdom. |
 | It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen. |
| Wisdom is the abstract of the past, but beauty is the promise of the future. |
 | If one is not oneself a sage or saint, the best thing one can do is to study the words of those who were. |
 | Mixing one's wines may be a mistake, but old and new wisdom mix admirably. |
 | A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted, that riches, positions, fortune, and favor cannot satisfy him. |
 | The seat of knowledge is in the head; of wisdom, in the heart. We are sure to judge wrong, if we do not feel right. |
| Wisdom is one of the few things that looks bigger the further away it is. |
 | What men call knowledge, is the reasoned acceptance of false appearances. Wisdom looks behind the veil and sees. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher |
| Evolution of consciousness is the central motive of terrestrial existence. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher |
| When Reason died, then Wisdom was born. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher |
 | It's bad taste to be wise all the time, like being at a perpetual funeral. |
 | Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. |
 | The jester is brother to the sage. |
 | Every day I add to the list of things I refuse to discuss. The wiser the man, the longer the list. |
 | Wisdom consists in being moderate not out of horror of excess, but out of love for the limit. |
 | Wisdom is known only by contrasting it with folly; by shadow only we perceive that all visible objects are not flat. |
Latin Quotes
| Patience is the companion of wisdom. Patientia comes est sapientiae. — Saint Augustine, 354-430, Christian theologian & philosopher 76 likes |
Quotes in Verse
 | Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? — T. S. Eliot, 1888-1965, British poet, Nobel 1948 4 likes |
 | Don’t gain the world and lose your soul. Wisdom is better than silver and gold. — Bob Marley, 1945-1981, Jamaican singer 4 likes |
 | Wisdom is oft-times nearer when we stoop Than when we soar. — William Wordsworth, 1770-1850, English poet 2 likes |
 | The deepest words of the wise man teach us the same as the whistle of the wind when it blows or the sound of the water when it is flowing. |
Ancient Greek
 | The investigation of the meaning of words is the beginning of wisdom. Αρχή Σοφίας ονομάτων επίσκεψις. — Antisthenes, 445-360 BC, Ancient Greek Cynic philosopher 18 likes |
 | Wise is he who knows useful things, not he who knows many things. Χρήσιμ’ ειδώς ουχ ο πολλά ειδώς σοφός. — Aeschylus, 525-456 BC, Ancient Greek tragedian 15 likes |
 | I only wish that wisdom were the kind of thing that flowed … from the vessel that was full to the one that was empty. Eυ αν έχοι ... ει τοιούτον είη η σοφία ωστ᾽ εκ του πληρεστέρου εις το κενώτερον ρείν ημών… — Plato, 427-347 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 10 likes |
 | Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds. Πολλών δ’ ανθρώπων ίδεν άστεα και νόον έγνων. — Homer, c. 800-750 BC, Ancient Greek Poet ‐ Odyssey I 9 likes |
 | Of all our possessions, wisdom alone is immortal. Σοφία μόνον κτημάτων αθάνατον. — Isokrates, 436-338 BC, Ancient Greek rhetorician 6 likes |
 | From wisdom come these three: good thinking, speaking well and doing what is right. Γίνεται δε εκ του φρονείν τρία ταύτα: βουλεύεσθαι καλώς, λέγειν αναμαρτήτως και πράττειν ά δει. — Democritus, 470-370 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 6 likes |
 | They say that time is by nature wise. Σοφόν λέγουσι τον χρόνον πεφυκέναι. — Agathon, 450-400 BC, Ancient Greek tragic poet 6 likes |
| Medicine heals the body and wisdom removes the suffering from the souls. Ιατρική μεν σώματος νόσους ακέεεται, σοφίη δε ψυχήν παθών αφαιρείται. — Democritus, 470-370 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 6 likes |
 | Among the rude, the wise man goes unnoticed. Σκαιοίσι πολλοίς είς σοφός διόλλυται. — Sophocles, 496-406 BC, Ancient tragic poet 5 likes |
 | That man is wise who can say what he wants in a minimum of words. Σοφού προς ανδρός όστις εν βραχεί πολλούς καλώς οίος τε συντέμνειν λόγους. — Aristophanes, 445-386 BC, Ancient Greek comic playwright ‐ Thesmophoriazusae 5 likes |
Proverbs
 | Beauty is the wisdom of women. Wisdom is the beauty of men. 5 likes |
 | If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a dove. — American Indian proverb ‐ Cheyenne 4 likes |
 | The wise man has long ears, big eyes and a short tongue. 2 likes |
