Wisdom Quotes

All great truths are simple in final analysis, and easily understood; if they are not, they are not great truths.

Hope and fear are both phantoms that arise from thinking of the self. When we don't see the self as self, what do we have to fear?

Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms.

No wise man ever thought that a traitor should be trusted.

A sound man is good at salvage, at seeing nothing is lost

A man who says, 'I was wrong,' really in effect says, 'I am a little wiser today than I was yesterday.

I think the only way we can grow and get on in this world is to accept the fact we're not perfect and live accordingly.

You already have the precious mixture that will make you well. Use it.

My uncle ordered popovers from the restaurant's bill of fare. And, when they were served, he regarded them with a penetrating stare. Then he spoke great words of wisdom as he sat there on that chair: "To eat these things," said my uncle, "You must exercise great care. You may swallow down what's solid, but you must spit out the air!" And as you partake of the world's bill of fare, that's darned good advice to follow. Do a lot of spitting out the hot air. And be careful what you swallow.

I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.

Poor minds talk about people average minds talk about events great minds talk about ideas

The vices enter into the composition of the virtues, as poisons into that of medicines. Prudence collects and arranges them, and uses them beneficially against the ills of life.

He who does not answer the questions has passed the test.

Get a friend to tell you your faults, or better still, welcome an enemy who will watch you keenly and sting you savagely. What a blessing such an irritating critic will be to a wise man, what an intolerable nuisance to a fool!

The truth is simple. If it was complicated, everyone would understand it.

Out of the unconscious lips of babes and sucklings are we satirized.

Some people get an education without going to college. The rest get it after they get out.

As a general rule, I abstain from reading reports of attacks upon myself, wishing not to be provoked by that to which I cannot properly offer an answer.

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

Jesters do oft prove prophets.

The wise and the brave dares own that he was wrong.

Those who can’t change their minds can’t change anything.

Old men are fond of giving good advice to console themselves for their inability to give bad examples.

All who say the same things do not possess them in the same manner; and hence the incomparable author of the Art of Conversation pauses with so much care to make it understood that we must not judge of the capacity of a man by the excellence of a happy remark that we heard him make. Let us penetrate, says he, the mind from which it proceeds. It will oftenest be seen that he will be made to disavow it on the spot, and will be drawn very far from this better thought in which he does not believe, to plunge himself into another, quite base and ridiculous.

The latter part of a wise person's life is occupied with curing the follies, prejudices and false opinions they contracted earlier.

Experience does not err. Only your judgments err by expecting from her what is not in her power.

Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing.

His grief he will not forget; but it will not darken his heart, it will teach him wisdom.

I have never learned anything except from people younger than myself.

A teacher who establishes rapport with the taught, becomes one with them, learns more from them than he teaches them. He who learns nothing from his disciples is, in my opinion, worthless. Whenever I talk with someone I learn from him. I take from him more than I give him.

Genius lasts longer than Beauty. That accounts for the fact that we all take such pains to over-educate ourselves.

The truly great man dwells on what is real and not what is on the surface.

Better to keep quiet and let people think you're an idiot than speak up and confirm it.

With age comes the understanding and appreciation of your most important asset, your health.

If you have a great deal of knowledge, but you're governed by negative emotions, then you tend to use your knowledge in negative ways. Therefore, while you are learning, don't forget the importance of warmheartedness.

You think that upon the score of fore-knowledge and divining I am infinitely inferior to the swans. When they perceive approaching death they sing more merrily than before, because of the joy they have in going to the God they serve.

The philosopher's conception of things will, above all, be truer than other men's, and his philosophy will subordinate all the circumstances of life. To live like a philosopher is to live, not foolishly, like other men, but wisely and according to universal laws.

A man's rootage is more important than his leafage.

Though wisdom is common, yet the many live as if they had a wisdom of their own.

Balance is the perfect state of still water. Let that be our model. It remains quiet within and is not disturbed on the surface.

Renouncing the honors at which the world aims, I desire only to know the truth... and to the maximum of power, I exhort all other men to do the same.

In my work, you get used to criticisms. Of course you do, because there are a lot of people trying to get you down, but I always cheer up immensely if one is particularly wounding because I think well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left. That is why my father always taught me: never worry about anyone who attacks you personally; it means their arguments carry no weight and they know it.

An old Apache storyteller reminds us

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.

More the knowledge lesser the Ego, lesser the knowledge, more the Ego.

Ignorance is the source of hatred, and the way to get rid of ignorance is realization.

It is ill-manners to silence a fool and cruelty to let him go on

Experience is the best teacher, but a fool will learn from no other.

The sole concern of learning is to seek one's original heart.

The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.

The lessons of experience are always learned too late.

Those who are right do not argue. Those who argue are not right.

For one gains by losing And loses by gaining.

Many sophisticated, intelligent people lack wisdom and common sense.

Man must suffer to be wise.

Will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people?

Controversy equalizes fools and wise men in the same way - and the fools know it.

One cannot learn so well as by experiencing it oneself.

I would not want to form a partnership with an architect who has only a little knowledge of building or a broker who has a limited knowledge of the stock market. Still, we form what we hope to be permanent relationships in love with people who have hardly any knowledge of what love is.

And is there anything more closely connected with wisdom than truth?