Wisdom Quotes

Misfortunes leave wounds which bleed drop by drop even in sleep thus little by little they train man by force and dispose him to wisdom in spite of himself. Man must learn to think of himself as a limited and dependent being and only suffering teaches him this.

Simone Weil

Man lowers his head and lunges into civilization, forgetting the days of his infancy when he sought truth in a snowflake or a stick. Man forgets the wisdom of the child.

Jack Kerouac

I believe that all wisdom consists in caring immensely for a few right things, and not caring a straw about the rest.

John Buchan

One reason the human race has such a low opinion of itself is that it gets so much of its wisdom from writers.

Wilfrid Sheed

The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.

H. L. Mencken

I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.

Socrates, In "Apology, " sct. 21, by Plato.

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.

Greek Prove

There is this difference between happiness and wisdom, that he that thinks himself the happiest man, really is so; but he who thinks himself the wisest, is generally the greatest fool.

C. C. Colton

Ignorance of certain subjects is a great part of wisdom.

Hugo De Groot

There is no wisdom without love.

N. Sri Ram

Behold, my son, with what little wisdom the world is ruled.

Count Axel Gustafson Oxenstierna

Force without wisdom falls of its own weight.

Horace, Odes

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undone? The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.

Lin Yutang, O Magazine, October 2002

I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions, not my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge.

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky

More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.

Woody Allen

He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.

J. R. R. Tolkien, Spoken by Gandalf

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

Reinhold Niebuhr, in a sermon in 1943

The best mind might be the wisest mind if it were a mind alone that produces wisdom.

Author Unknown

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner.

Omar Bradley

Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living the other helps you make a life.

Sandra Carey

It is the ultimate wisdom of the mountains that a man is never more a man than when he is striving for what is beyond his grasp.

James Ramsey

Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents.

Kahlil Gibran

The sum of all human wisdom is contained in these two words: Wait and Hope.

Alexander Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child.

Ron Wild

Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.

Theodore Rubin

The ultimate wisdom which deals with beginnings, remains locked in a seed. There it lies, the simplest fact of the universe and at the same time the one which calls faith rather than reason.

Hal Borland

Strength and wisdom are not opposing values.

Bill Clinton, 2004 democratic convention speech

They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.

Confucius, Analects

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge Where is the knowledge we have lost in information.

T. S. Eliot

Science at best is not wisdom it is knowledge. Wisdom is knowledge tempered with judgment.

Lord Ritchie - Calde

The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error.

Bertolt Brecht, The life of Galileo

For the uncontrolled there is no wisdom. For the uncontrolled there is no concentration, and for him without concentration, there is no peace. And for the unpeaceful how can there ever be happiness?

Unknown, The Bhagavad Gita

Some of the best lessons we ever learn are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom and success of the future.

Dr. Dale E. Turne

Doubt is the vestibule through which all must pass before they can enter into the temple of wisdom.

Charles Caleb Colton

What is all wisdom save a collection of platitudes? But the man who orders his life according to their teachings cannot go far wrong.

Norman Douglas

Surely, God on high has not refused to give us enough wisdom to find ways to bring us an improvement... in relations between the two great nations on earth.

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev

Morality is temporary, wisdom is permanent.

Hunter S. Thompson, Kingdom of Fea

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Reinhold Niebuh

I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi