In the place where there is a leader,
do not seek to become a leader.
In the place where there is no leader,
strive to become a leader.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
You read of but one wise man, and all that he knew was—that he knew nothing.
—William Congreve (1670–1729) English Playwright, Poet
Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Maxims are to the intellect what laws are to actions: they do not enlighten, but guide and direct, and though themselves blind, are protecting.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise.
—Homer (751–651 BCE) Ancient Greek Poet
For one word a man is deemed wise and for one word he is deemed foolish. We should be careful indeed what we say.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
Those who know others are intelligent; those who know themselves are truly wise . Those who master others are strong; those who master themselves have true power
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
Let thy house be a resort of the wise.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The sublimity of wisdom is to do those things living which are to be desired when dying.
—Jeremy Taylor
Wisdom begins at the end.
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American Statesman, Lawyer
The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
—Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) French Philosopher, Playwright, Novelist, Screenwriter, Political Activist
Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
The wise man always throws himself on the side of his assailants. It is more his interest than it is theirs to find his weak point.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
By others faults the wise correct their own.
—Common Proverb
Wisdom is a tree and active virtue is its fruit.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
The live in wisdom who see themselves in all and all in them, who have renounced every selfish desire and sense craving tormenting the heart.
—The Bhagavad Gita Hindu Scripture
Jerusalem was destroyed because the instruction of the young was neglected.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know—and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance. It is better to know—even if the knowledge endures only for the moment that comes before destruction—than to gain eternal life at the price of a dull and swinish lack of comprehension of a universe that swirls unseen before us in all its wonder. That was the choice of Achilles, and it is mine, too.
—Isaac Asimov (1920–92) Russian-born American Writer, Scientist
He is no wise man who will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.
—Buddhist Teaching
Wisdom is the name God gives to religion, so telling the world what it will hardly believe, that the two great things which so engross the desire and designs of both the nobler and ignobler sort of mankind, are to be found in religion, viz.: wisdom and pleasure, and that the former is the direct way to the latter, as religion is to both.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
Though wisdom cannot be gotten for gold, still less can be gotten without it.
—Samuel Butler
The life of wisdom must be a life of contemplation combined with action.
—M. Scott Peck (1936–2005) American Psychiatrist, Author
A gauge for wisdom.- The growth of wisdom may be gauged exactly by the diminution of ill-temper.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it.
—Archibald Alexander Hodge (1823–86) American Presbyterian Theologian
There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Turn your wounds into wisdom.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Time ripens all things; no man is born wise.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
—Buddhist Teaching
Only the educated are free.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
At last, psychology gets serious about glee, fun, and happiness. Martin Seligman has given us a gift—a practical map for the perennial quest for a flourishing life.
—Daniel Goleman (b.1946) American Psychologist, Author, Science Journalist
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
—Epicurus (c.341–270 BCE) Greek Philosopher
There is a wisdom of the head, and… a wisdom of the heart.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
We ought not to look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dear-bought experience.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
Human wisdom makes as ill use of her talent when she exercises it in rescinding from the number and sweetness of those pleasures that are naturally our due, as she employs it favorably and well in artificially disguising and tricking out the ills of life to alleviate the sense of them.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Every day, therefore, should be regulated as if it were the one that brings up the rear, the one that rounds out and completes our lives.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Wisdom begins in wonder.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
The teachers are the guardians of a State.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure.
—Edward Thorndike (1874–1949) American Psychologist
Wisdom is like electricity. There is no permanently wise man, but men capable of wisdom, who, being put into certain company, or other favorable conditions, become wise for a short time, as glasses rubbed acquire electric power for a while.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Death is our eternal companion. It is always to our left, an arm’s length behind us. Death is the only wise adviser that a warrior has. Whenever he feels that everything is going wrong and he’s about to be annihilated, he can turn to his death and ask if that is so. His death will tell him that he is wrong, that nothing really matters outside its touch. His death will tell him, I haven’t touched you yet.’
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
What is strength without a double share of wisdom? Vast, unwieldy, burthensome, proudly secure, yet liable to fall by weakest subtleties; strength’s not made to rule, but to subserve, where wisdom bears command.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
A hundred years’ living of an ignorant, wavering person is not worth one day of a wise man whose mind is concentrated.
—Buddhist Teaching
Labor to keep alive that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman