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Quotes about wisdom

352 quotes from 209 people

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The man who can keep a secret may be wise, but he is not half as wise as the man with no secrets to keep.
E. W. Howe1853–1937Country Town Sayings (1911), p. 9
The first thing you learn in life is you’re a fool. The last thing you learn in life is you’re the same fool.
Ray Bradbury1920–2012Dandelion Wine (1957), p. 62
Everything in our political life tends to hide from us that there is anything wiser than our ordinary selves.
Matthew Arnold1822–1888Culture and Anarchy (1869), Ch. III, Barbarians, Philistines, Populace
- Politics
Both in thought and in feeling, even though time be real, to realise the unimportance of time is the gate of wisdom.
Bertrand Russell1872–1970Our Knowledge of the External World (1914), p. 167
- Time
Remember this⁠— that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life.
Marcus Aurelius121–180IV, 32
- Advice
Live a balanced life — learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Robert Fulghumborn 1937All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (1986)
- Advice
Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.
Malcolm X1925–1965Malcolm X Speaks (1965), p. 12
- Advice
When prosperous the fool trembles for the evil that is to come; in adversity the philosopher smiles for the good that he has had.
Ambrose Bierce1842–1914Epigrams, p. 371
A wise man does not try to hurry history. Many wars have been avoided by patience and many have been precipitated by reckless haste.
Adlai Stevenson II1900–1965Speeches of Adlai Stevenson (1952), p. 39
- War & Peace
When you counsel someone, you should appear to be reminding him of something he had forgotten, not of the light he was unable to see.
Baltasar Gracián1601–1658The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647), Maxim 7 (p. 4)
- Advice
Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others.
Edward Abbey1927–1989A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990)
- Government
Common men talk bagfuls of religion but do not practise even a grain of it. The wise man speaks little, even though his whole life is religion expressed in action.
Ramakrishna1836–1886Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna (1960) (152)
- Religion
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
Everyone sees the unseen in proportion to the clarity of his heart, and that depends upon how much he has polished it.
Whoever has polished it more sees more — more unseen forms become manifest to him.
Rumi1207–1273IV, 2909-10 (tr. Chittick)
When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.
Confucius551–479 BCAnalects, Chapter I
- Advice
- Character