Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Wisdom
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“To withdraw is not to run away, and to stay is no wise action when there is more reason to fear than to hope. 'Tis the part of a wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow, and not venture all his eggs in one basket. And though I am but a clown, or a bumpkin, as you may say, yet I would have you to know I know what is what, and have always taken care of the main chance...”
Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) said by 1616 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sancho to Don Quixote, in Ch. 9, (tr. Peter Anthony Motteux, 1701).
“If forty million people say a foolish thing it does not become a wise one, but the wise man is foolish to give them the lie.”
W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) first seen 1901 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: W. Somerset Maugham, A Writer's Notebook (1949), entry for 1901
Also quoted by: Bertrand Russell (misattributed)
“He that is not handsome at twenty, nor strong at thirty, nor rich at forty, nor wise at fifty, will never bee handsome, strong, rich, or wise.”
George Herbert (1593–1633) said by 1633 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wise men don't need to prove their point; men who need to prove their point aren't wise. The Master has no possessions. The more he does for others, the happier he is. The more he gives to others, the wealthier he is. The Tao nourishes by not forcing. By not dominating, the Master leads.”
Laozi (580–501 BC) said by 501 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)
“His father thought he had a wond'rous wise look when he was born, and so he named him Solomon, thinking that if indeed he turned out to be wise the name would fit him nicely, whereas, should he be mistaken, and the boy grow up stupid, his name could be easily changed to Simon.”
L. Frank Baum (1856–1919) first seen 1897 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Wond'rous Wise Man", in Mother Goose in Prose (1897)
“Those who are wise won't be busy, and those who are too busy can't be wise.”
Lin Yutang (1895–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Of course some wars may have been necessary or inevitable, but none was ever regarded as holy. For us, a holy war is a contradiction in terms. War dehumanizes, war diminishes, war debases all those who wage it. The Talmud says, "Talmidei hukhamim marbin shalom baolam" (It is the wise men who will bring about peace). Perhaps, because wise men remember best.”
Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Perhaps the time may come when it will be wise to abandon all North America but Canada, Nova Scotia, and the Floridas, but then the generality of the nation must see it first in that light, but to treat with Independence can never be possible... A sea war is the only wise plan.”
George III (1738–1820) first seen 1768 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Lord North (13 January 1778), quoted in The Correspondence of King George the Third with Lord North, From 1768 to 1783, Vol. II, ed. W. Bodham Donne (1867), pp. 118-119
“Learn from me that a wise man who has heard a criminal accusation related with so many absurd particulars ceases to be wise when he makes himself the echo of what he has heard, for if the accusation should turn out to be a calumny, he would himself become the accomplice of the slanderer.”
Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) said by 1798 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise.”
David Zindell (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 Abbey (1927–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The wise are wise only because they love.”
Paulo Coelho (born 1947) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Elders on Love: Dialogues on the Consciousness, Cultivation, and Expression of Love (1999) by Kenneth R. Lakritz and Thomas M. Knoblauch.
“It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.”
Diogenes Laërtius wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Tertullian
“2168. 'Tis better for thee to be wise and not seem so, than to seem wise and not be so: Yet Men, for the most Part, desire and endeavor the contrary.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Kingdom is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of small fish. Among them the wise fisherman found a fine large fish. He threw all the small fish back into the sea and chose the large fish without difficulty. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear. (8)”
Jesus (6 BC–33) said by 33 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Planning is the design of a desired future and of effective ways of bringing it about. It is an instrument that is used by the wise, but not by the wise alone. When conducted by lesser men it often becomes an irrelevant ritual that produces short-run peace of mind, but not the future that is longed for.”
Russell L. Ackoff (1919–2009) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 1 as cited in: George David Hughes (1997) Marketing management: a planning approach. p. 14 and many other works.
“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. Howe (1853–1937) said by 1937 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are questions I'm still not wise enough to answer, just wise enough to no longer ask.”
George Jones (1931–2013) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I Lived to Tell It All (1996, ebook 2014), Page 148.
“Philanthropy is part of our DNA - business-wise and family-wise.”
Sukanto Tanoto (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The more one looks back to it, the more noteworthy it all seems. It is easy to be wise after the event; it is also (as somebody once said) wise. In almost every respect the career of Huey Long parallels that of the modern European dictator-tyrant, the Hitler or Mussolini. Huey Long, had he lived, might very well have brought Fascism to America.”
John Gunther (1901–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I realized I was thinking about fiction two-dimensionally. When I’m writing comics, I’m also visualizing how the story will look on the page—not even always art-wise, but panel-wise, like how a moment will be enhanced dramatically by simply turning a page and getting a reveal. It requires thinking about story in a way I never had to consider when I was writing prose.”
Marjorie Liu (born 1979) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On writing a comic versus a novel in “Marjorie Liu on the Road to Making Monstress” in The Atlantic (2017 Sep 14)
“The story is told that someone once asked a wise man where he could be sure to find God. The wise man told his questioner to come along where he would lead him, and together they went into the solitude of the open desert. ‘Behold’, he said, ‘where God is’. God is more promptly believed to be there, since he is more easily found there.”
Eucherius of Lyon (380–449) said by 449 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I your own in every humble wise have me ventured to make this little simple book which I recommend and submit to your noble and wise correction, ...”
Edward, 2nd Duke of York (1373–1415) said by 1415 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Right wise it was of our Colm when founding in Iona his famous sixth century school and colony of monks and scholars, he forbade the bringing in of a cow. "Where comes a cow," the wise man laid down, "there follows a woman; and where comes a woman follows trouble.”
Seumas MacManus (1868–1960) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Heavy Hangs the Golden Grain (Dublin: The Talbot Press, Ltd, 1950) ch. 3
“It is possible that a wise and good man may be prevailed on to game; but it is impossible that a professed gamester should be a wise and good man.”
Johann Kaspar Lavater (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you are wise, be wise; keep what goods the gods provide you.”
Plautus (250–184 BC) said by 184 BC at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Every evil is some good spelt backwards, and in it the wise know how to read Wisdom.”
Coventry Patmore (1823–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Poverty and Genius were coupled by the wisdom of Providence for wise and good ends, no doubt”
Ignatius Sancho (1729–1780) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (from vol 2, letter 9: 4 Oct 1778, to Mr S___ ).
“I used to dislike the Whigs but in my years of loneliness I have come to the conclusion that they governed England better than anybody else. They thought our their measures carefully and adapted them to their times and generation. They were not heroic but they were wise. In modern days we see much heroism but little wisdom.”
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847–1929) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Strachey (19 October 1921), quoted in Leo McKinstry, Rosebery: Statesman in Turmoil (2006), p. 526
“I realised fairly early that the 'wisdom of the ages' - whether from 3000 years ago or yesterday - often was simply and perfectly adaptable to the context of the football arena, and immensely valuable. From my regular morning habit of reading, I would write down any wise, pragmatic and smart quotes and ideas that struck me, and that I felt could be of use in coaching.”
Jack Gibson (1929–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“His background is not simply the Abbey School of Dunfermline (where he is reputed to have been a schoolmaster), but the surrounding Scottish countryside and community to which he belonged. His wisdom – and his poems are very wise about life – evidently came from his having lived long and profoundly as a member of that whole Scottish community.”
Robert Henryson (1425–1506) said by 1506 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: John Speirs, in Boris Ford (ed.) Medieval Literature: Chaucer and the Alliterative Tradition (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982) p. 85.
“The question is, whether, like the Divine Child in the Temple, we are turning knowledge into wisdom, and whether, understanding more of the mysteries of life, we are feeling more of its sacred law; and whether, having left behind the priests and the scribes and the doctors and the fathers, we are about our Father's business, and becoming wise to God.”
Frederick William Robertson (1816–1853) said by 1853 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“True faith, by a mighty effort of the will, fixes its gaze on our Divine Helper, and there finds it possible and wise to lose its fears. It is madness to say, "I will not be afraid; "it is wisdom and peace to say, "I will trust and not be afraid.”
Alexander Maclaren (1826–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sweet songs of youth, the wise, the meeting of all wisdom To believe in the good in man.”
Jon Anderson (born 1944) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lyrics of "Loved by the Sun", on the soundtrack of the film Legend (1986).
“The seven wise men of Greece, so famous for their wisdom all the world over, acquired all that fame, each of them by a single sentence, consisting of two or three words.”
Robert South (1634–1716) said by 1716 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Shelley, who in Prometheus Unbound had observed that the wise lack love and those who have love lack wisdom, went to his end in The Triumph of Life asking why good and the means of good were irreconcilable.”
Harold Bloom (1930–2019) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Anatomy of Influence (2011), p. 142.
“Through a wise and salutary neglect [of the colonies], a generous nature has been suffered to take her own way to perfection; when I reflect upon these effects, when I see how profitable they have been to us, I feel all the pride of power sink and all presumption in the wisdom of human contrivances melt and die away within me. My vigour relents. I pardon something to the spirit of liberty.”
Edmund Burke (1729–1797) said by 1797 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sweet, silent rhetoric of persuading eyes, Dumb eloquence, whose power doth move the blood More than the words or wisdom of the wise.”
Samuel Daniel (1562–1619) said by 1619 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is something which unites magic and applied science while separating both from the wisdom of earlier ages. For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men.”
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No, that is the great fallacy: the wisdom of old men. They do not grow wise. They grow careful.”
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the midst of possible world war, of wholesale destruction, I find my only question this: are there enough people now who believe? Is there time enough left for the wise to act? It is a contest between ignorance and death, or wisdom and life. My faith in humanity stands firm.”
Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The heart of man is not compound of lies, but draws some wisdom from the only Wise, and still recalls him. Though now long estranged, man is not wholly lost nor wholly changed.”
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Facts are ventriloquists' dummies. Sitting on a wise man's knee they may be made to utter words of wisdom; elsewhere, they say nothing, or talk nonsense, or indulge in sheer diabolism.”
Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One who takes account of his shortcomings will always gain by it; one who is unmindful of them will always suffer. One who is afraid of the Day of Judgment, is safe from the Wrath of Allah. One who takes lessons from the events of life, gets vision, one who acquires vision becomes wise and one who attains wisdom achieves knowledge.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Siddhartha … had begun to suspect that his worthy father and his other teachers, the wise Brahmins, had already passed on to him the bulk and best of their wisdom, that they had already poured the sum total of their knowledge into his waiting vessel; and the vessel was not full, his intellect was not satisfied.”
Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: H. Rosner, trans. (Bantam: 1971), p. 5
“Wisdom includes not getting angry unnecessarily. The Law ignores trifles and the wise man does, too.”
Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have lived no cloistered life and hold in contempt the wise man who has not lived and the scholar who will not share. There have been many wiser men than I, but few have traveled as much road. I have seen life from the top down and the bottom up. I know how it looks both ways. And I know there is wisdom and that there is hope.”
L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My Philosophy (1965).
“The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, may be preserved by quotation.”
Isaac D'Israeli (1766–1848) said by 1848 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quotation; since at least 1986 a paraphrased form misattributed to his son Benjamin Disraeli has often been quoted: "The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are perpetuated by quotations.
Also quoted by: Benjamin Disraeli (misattributed)
“Let wise men piece the world together with wisdom Or poets with holy magic. Hey-di-ho.”
Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wise men never grow up; indeed, they grow younger, for they lose the appalling worldly wisdom of youth.”
John Buchan (1875–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source