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Quotes about wisdom

352 quotes from 209 people

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Wise men never grow up; indeed, they grow younger, for they lose the appalling worldly wisdom of youth.
John Buchan1875–1940A Lodge in the Wilderness (1906), Ch. XI, pp. 313–4
- Age
The highest morality may prove also to be the highest wisdom when the half-told story comes to be finished.
Arthur Conan Doyle1859–1930The Boer War (1902)
- Morality
Take the risk of thinking for yourself. Much more happiness, truth, beauty and wisdom will come to you that way.
Christopher Hitchens1949–2011Christopher Hitchens vs. William Dembski, 18/11/2010 (closing remarks)
- Thinking
When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void.
Miyamoto Musashi1584–1645Go Rin No Sho (1645), “The Book No-Thing-ness”
Our age has robbed millions of the simplicity of ignorance, and has so far failed to lift them to the simplicity of wisdom.
Robertson Davies1913–1995A Voice from the Attic (1960)
- Knowledge
What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do.
John Ruskin1819–1900The Crown of Wild Olive (1866)
- Character
Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.
LLaozi580–501 BCTao Te Ching, Ch. 33, tr. Stephen Mitchell (1988)
- Intelligence
- Power
You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view — until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.
Harper Lee1926–2016To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), Pt. 1, Ch. 3 (Atticus Finch)
- Advice
Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his right road.
Dag Hammarskjöld1905–1961Vägmärken · Markings (1963), 1925–1930
- Advice
- Motivation & Goals
Humility, a sense of reverence before the sons of heaven — of all the prizes that a mortal man might win, these, I say, are wisest; these are best.
Euripides481–407 BCThe Bacchae, ll. 1150-1152 (tr. William Arrowsmith, 1958)
- Virtue
Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly if they even roll a few more upon it.
Albert Schweitzer1875–1965The Spiritual Life (1947), p. 164
- Advice
- Charity
If I could offer one piece of advice to young people thinking about their future, it would be this: Don’t preconceive. Find out what the opportunities are.
Thomas Sowellborn 1930Barbarians inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays (1999)
- Advice
- Youth
The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.
Richard Bachborn 1936Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
- Change
Live all you can — it’s a mistake not to. It doesn’t so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven’t had that, what have you had?
Henry James1843–1916The Ambassadors (1903), Book V, ch. II
- Advice
- Life & Death
Don’t get involved in partial problems, but always take flight to where there is a free view over the whole single great problem, even if this view is still not a clear one.
Ludwig Wittgenstein1889–1951Journal entry (1 November 1914)
- Advice