quotations about wisdom
No man has all the wisdom in the world; everyone has some.
EDGAR WATSON HOWE
Country Town Sayings
Wisdom is at all times the least burdensome traveling pack.
WILLIAM CAMDEN
attributed, Day's Collacon
Never, no, never did Nature say one thing and Wisdom say another.
EDMUND BURKE
Letters on a Regicide Peace
Contend not in wisdom with a fool, for thy sense maketh much of his conceit;
And some errors never would have thriven, had it not been for learned refutation.
MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER
Proverbial Philosophy
Wisdom is the only thing which can relieve us from the sway of the passions and the fear of danger, and which can teach us to bear the injuries of fortune itself with moderation, and which shows us all the ways which lead to tranquility and peace.
CICERO
The Academic Questions: Treatise De Finibus, and Tusculan Disputations of M. T. Cicero
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
Like gold in the hands of a savage are the sayings of wisdom in the mouth of a fool.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
None of us was born knowing or wise; but men become wise by consideration, observation, experience.
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Moral and Religious Aphorisms
Knowing how to make a banana pudding is knowledge, but wisdom is knowing if others appreciate your efforts.
LARRY EFIRD
"Wisdom, knowledge and banana pudding", Salisbury Post, January 9, 2016
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
Line upon line, a little here and there,
We scrape together wisdom with slow care.
Wherefore? To blossom in a churchyard rose,
Or to go with the spirit--if it goes?
KARLE WILSON BAKER
"Wisdom", Blue Smoke
It is because the old have forgotten life that they preach wisdom.
PHILIP MOELLER
Helena's Husband
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
Wisdom is a safe ship; and we may trust ourselves to it in all weathers.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
The wise may find in trifles light as atoms in the air, some useful lesson to enrich the mind.
JOHN GODFREY SAXE
"King Solomon and the Bees"
Second thoughts are ever wiser.
EURIPIDES
Hippolytus
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, wisdom is the "Capacity of judging rightly in matters relating to life and conduct" and "sound judgement". My goodness, think if wisdom were a modern concept, regularly practiced, how much less shocking news we would have every day! If only celebrities didn't make such silly displays of themselves on late-night television shows; if tourists didn't insist on taking naked selfies on sacred mountains; if Justin Bieber could only behave like a sensible young man; if politicians were once again filled with serious integrity. Then our lives would not be spinning out of control with nonsense. What if Donald Trump had the wisdom to keep his mouth shut? What if scientists realize that just because they can create robot soldiers doesn't mean they should?
DOROTHY TURCOTTE
"The world in 2016 could use a little more wisdom", Niagara This Week, January 12, 2016
The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
WILLIAM JAMES
Principles of Psychology
A wise man heedeth all things, and in his own eyes is a fool.
MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER
Proverbial Philosophy