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Quotes about wisdom

352 quotes from 209 people

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Everyone can master a grief but he that has it.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Much Ado About Nothing (c. 1598), Act III, Scene II, spoken by BenedickIn context
- Advice
- Emotion
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
William Shakespeare1564–1616As You Like It (c. 1599), Act II, Scene I, spoken by Duke SeniorIn context
- Nature
Sell when you can; you are not for all markets.
William Shakespeare1564–1616As You Like It (c. 1599), Act III, Scene V, spoken by RosalindIn context
- Advice
- Clever Jabs
Time enough to think of the future when you haven’t any future to think of.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Pygmalion (1912), Act II, spoken by HigginsIn context
- Advice
- Time
Whensoever by some present hard occurrences thou art constrained to be in some sort troubled and vexed, return unto thyself as soon as may be, and be not out of tune longer than thou must needs.
Marcus Aurelius121–180Meditations (c. 170–180), The Sixth BookIn context
- Advice
- Emotion
Remember, that to change thy mind upon occasion, and to follow him that is able to rectify thee, is equally ingenuous, as to find out at the first, what is right and just, without help.
Marcus Aurelius121–180Meditations (c. 170–180), The Eighth BookIn context
- Change
A prince who is not wise himself will never take good advice
Niccolò Machiavelli1469–1527The Prince (1532), Chapter XXIIIIn context
- Advice
- Leadership
There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers. Yet it is admirable to profess because it was once admirable to live. To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Walden (1854), Economy (1 of 3)In context
- Philosophy
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Walden (1854), Where I Lived, and What I Lived ForIn context
- Advice
- Life & Death
Such is the nature of men, that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent, or more learned; Yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves: For they see their own wit at hand, and other mens at a distance.
Thomas Hobbes1588–1679Leviathan (1651), Part I: Of Man, Chapter XIIIIn context
- Intelligence
It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882Self-Reliance (1841)In context
- Character
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882Self-Reliance (1841)In context
- Thinking
But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.
O. Henry1862–1910The Gift of the Magi (1905)In context
- Christmas
For Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.
Alexander Pope1688–1744An Essay on Criticism (1711)In context
- Clever Jabs
O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
Robert Burns1759–1796To a Louse (1786)In context
- Character