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Quotes about wisdom

352 quotes from 209 people

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“Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end; then stop.”
Lewis Carroll1832–1898Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Chapter XIIIn context
- Advice
“Speak in French when you can’t think of the English for a thing⁠—turn out your toes as you walk⁠—and remember who you are!”
Lewis Carroll1832–1898Through the Looking-Glass (1871), Chapter IIIn context
- Advice
Rather than reacting to every risk we hear and see, we should make an effort to discern which ones we can do something about.
Ben Carsonborn 1951Take The Risk (2008), p. 58
- Advice
- Risk
There are more fools than wise men, and even in a wise man there is more folly than wisdom.
Nicolas Chamfort1740–1794Maximes et Pensées, #149
There should be more sincerity and heart in human relations, more silence and simplicity in our interactions. Be rude when you’re angry, laugh when something is funny, and answer when you’re asked.
Anton Chekhov1860–1904Letter to his brother, A.P. Chekhov (October 13, 1888)
- Advice
In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”
G. K. Chesterton1874–1936The Thing (1929), Ch. IV: “The Drift From Domesticity”
- Change
I am reminded of the professor who, in his declining hours, was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, “Verify your quotations.”
Winston Churchill1874–1965The Second World War, Volume IV: The Hinge of Fate (1951)
- Advice
- Quotations
Wise men are instructed by reason; men of less understanding, by experience; the most ignorant, by necessity; the beasts, by nature.
Cicero107–43 BC
Let your desires be ruled by reason.
Cicero107–43 BCDe Officiis (44 BC), Book I, section 141
There are times when the utmost daring is the height of wisdom.
Carl von Clausewitz1780–1831On War (1832), Book 2
- Courage
Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it.
Stephen Colbertborn 1964Knox College commencement address (3 June 2006)
If you don’t give power to the words that people throw at you to hurt you, they don’t hurt you anymore — and you actually have power over those people.
Stephen Colbertborn 1964Stephen Colbert—It Gets Better (13 July 2011)
- Advice
- Power
Common-sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge1772–1834“Hacket’s Life of Lord Keeper Williams”, notes published in The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Vol. 3 (1838), ed. Henry Nelson Coleridge, p. 186
The fool’s crime is the crime that is found out, and the wise man’s crime is the crime that is NOT found out.
Wilkie Collins1824–1889The Woman in White (1860), Second Epoch, The Story Continued by Marian Halcombe, IIIIn context
- Justice
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