quotations about wisdom
All wisdom ends in paradox.
JEFFREY EUGENIDES
The Virgin Suicides
What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
Emile
Wisdom is wisdom, wherever found.
G. DAVID NORDLEY
"The Fountain", Asimov's Science Fiction, June 1, 2013
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
The next thing to having wisdom ourselves, is to profit by that of others.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
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
The wise men were all fools, what to do?
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"Last to Die", Magic
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
A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence.
DAVID HUME
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
A wise man is out of the reach of fortune.
THOMAS BROWNE
Religio Medici
How poor is the wisdom of men, and how uncertain their forecast!
ST. THERESA
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
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
Wisdom consists in being able to distinguish among dangers and make a choice of the least harmful.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
The Prince
Wisdom is at all times the least burdensome traveling pack.
WILLIAM CAMDEN
attributed, Day's Collacon
Many things imperfect by nature are made perfect by wisdom.
NICCOLO UZZANO
attributed, Day's Collacon
The wise form right judgment of the present from what is past.
SOPHOCLES
attributed, Day's Collacon
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
Like gold in the hands of a savage are the sayings of wisdom in the mouth of a fool.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
Some people look to religion. Others, great works of classical art. For most of us though, life lessons are to be found in the movies (or even its unruly, younger sibling: Television), where guiding wisdom is dispensed by sages as undoubtable as Yoda, Don Corleone or Hannibal Lector.
MATTHEW PRIEST
"21 nuggets of cinematic wisdom", Esquire, January 14, 2016