Jean-Jacques Rousseau on wisdom

To write a good love letter, you ought to begin without knowing what you mean to say and to finish without knowing what you have written.

A country cannot subsist well without liberty, nor liberty without virtue.

It is in man’s heart that the life of nature’s spectacle exists; to see it, one must feel it.

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

Socrates470–399 BC

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.

Confucius551–479 BC

True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we
understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.