wisdom quotes

Young men soon give, and soon forget, affronts; old age is slow in both.

The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month.

In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.

I’m married. My wife, Stella – a beautiful woman. She’s brought a lot of peace to my life, a lot of wisdom.

A little learning is a dangerous thing, but we must take that risk because a little is as much as our biggest heads can hold.

One should take good care not to grow too wise for so great a pleasure of life as laughter.

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.

They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it’s not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.

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

Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul.

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.

Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.

Earnestness is enthusiasm tempered by reason.

What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new.

Wisdom has its root in goodness, not goodness its root in wisdom.

It is not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, that the lover of knowledge is reluctant to step into its waters.

A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man’s life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars.

Who is the wisest man? He who neither knows or wishes for anything else than what happens.

Silence is the mother of truth.

What one fool can understand, another can.

The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the fool.

A mother takes twenty years to make a man of her boy, and another woman makes a fool of him in twenty minutes.

Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise.

When one has finished building one’s house, one suddenly realizes that in the process one has learned something that one really needed to know in the worst way – before one began.

Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.

First and last, what is demanded of genius is love of truth.

Those who do not know how to live must make a merit of dying.

Reason commands us far more imperiously than a master; for in disobeying the one we are unfortunate, and in disobeying the other we are fools.

All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.

Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish – too much handling will spoil it.

Science is what you know, philosophy is what you don’t know.

People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.

I can tell you, honest friend, what to believe: believe life; it teaches better that book or orator.

The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.

As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.

Say not, ‚I have found the truth,‘ but rather, ‚I have found a truth.‘

He who does not trust enough, Will not be trusted.

A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.

Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.

All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen.

God has already done everything He’s going to do. The ball is now in your court. If you want success, if you want wisdom, if you want to be prosperous and healthy, you’re going to have to do more than meditate and believe; you must boldly declare words of faith and victory over yourself and your family.

There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.

All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie.

I think there is only one quality worse than hardness of heart and that is softness of head.

Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious.

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.

Surely wisdom will come as we listen to learn from children, parents, partners, neighbors, Church leaders, and the Lord.

Let me smile with the wise, and feed with the rich.

Thought and theory must precede all salutary action; yet action is nobler in itself than either thought or theory.

Whatever you cannot understand, you cannot possess.

It is most unwise for people in love to marry.

A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain.

He that will enjoy the brightness of sunshine, must quit the coolness of the shade.

Life levels all men. Death reveals the eminent.

Regarding life, the wisest men of all ages have judged alike: it is worthless.

In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.

Is the babe young? When I behold it, it seems more venerable than the oldest man.