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Wisdom
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“Prejudice is of ready application in the emergency; it previously engages the mind in a steady course of wisdom and virtue and does not leave the man hesitating in the moment of decision sceptical, puzzled, and unresolved. Prejudice renders a man's virtue his habit, and not a series of unconnected acts. Through just prejudice, his duty becomes a part of his nature.”
Edmund Burke (1729–1797) said by 1797 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Are chiefly cherished in Provinces far from Capitals. They are the standing Wisdom of a Country, though frequently Preposterous on a first view of them.”
Edmund Burke (1729–1797) said by 1797 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The future of any country which is dependent upon the will and wisdom of its citizens is damaged, and irreparably damaged, whenever any of its children is not educated to the full extent of his talent, from grade school through graduate school.”
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wisdom is passionless. But faith by contrast is what Kierkegaard calls a passion.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If a person tells me he has been to the worst places I have no reason to judge him; but if he tells me it was his superior wisdom that enabled him to go there, then I know he is a fraud.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) first seen 1930 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conversation of 1930
“It seems to me that, in every culture, I come across a chapter headed Wisdom. And then I know exactly what is going to follow: Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conversation of 1934
“We differ, blind and seeing, one from another, not in our senses, but in the use we make of them, in the imagination and courage with which we seek wisdom beyond the senses.”
Helen Keller (1880–1968) first seen 1910 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Five-sensed World (1910)
“Of all the means which wisdom acquires to ensure happiness throughout the whole of life, by far the most important is friendship. (28)”
Epicurus (342–270 BC) said by 270 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Since it is every man's interest to be happy through the whole of life, it is the wisdom of every one to employ philosophy in the search of felicity without delay; and there cannot be a greater folly, than to be always beginning to live.”
Epicurus (342–270 BC) said by 270 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He is a despicable sage whose wisdom does not profit himself.”
Publilius Syrus (101–101 BC) said by 101 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wit and valour are qualities that are more easily ascertained than virtue, or the love of wisdom.”
Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) said by 1794 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The health of a church depends not merely on the creed which it professes, not even on the wisdom and holiness of a few great ecclesiastics, but on the faith and virtue of its individual members.”
Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) said by 1875 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If thou art fighting against thy sins, so is God. On thy side is God who made all, and Christ who died for all and the Spirit who alone gives wisdom, purity, and nobleness.”
Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) said by 1875 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No solitary miscreant, scarcely any solitary maniac, would venture on such actions and imaginations, as large communities of sane men have, in such circumstances, entertained as sound wisdom.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Instruction, that mysterious communing of Wisdom with Ignorance, is no longer an indefinable tentative process, requiring a study of individual aptitudes, and a perpetual variation of means and methods, to attain the same end; but a secure, universal, straightforward business, to be conducted in the gross, by proper mechanism.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our “Theories of Taste,” as they are called, wherein the deep, infinite, unspeakable Love of Wisdom and Beauty, which dwells in all men, is “explained,” made mechanically visible, from “Association” and the like, ...”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Probably some ninety-nine out of every hundred of our gifted souls, who have to seek a career for themselves, go this beaver road. Whereby the first half-result, national wealth namely, is plentifully realized; and only the second half, or wisdom to guide it, is dreadfully behindhand.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wisdom's first progress is to take a view What's decent or indecent, false or true.”
John Denham (1615–1669) said by 1669 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Books should to one of these four ends conduce, For wisdom, piety, delight, or use.”
John Denham (1615–1669) said by 1669 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Who mix'd reason with pleasure, and wisdom with mirth: If he had any faults, he has left us in doubt.”
Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774) said by 1774 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I cannot be content with less than heaven; Living, and comprehensive of all life. Thee, universal heaven, celestial all; Thee, sacred seat of intellective time; Field of the soul's best wisdom: home of truth, Star-throned.”
Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Kindness is wisdom. There is none in life But needs it, and may learn.”
Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The man of wisdom is the man of years.”
Edward Young (1683–1765) said by 1765 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Animals in their generation are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass.”
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) first seen 1711 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: No. 120 (18 July 1711)
“Cunning is only the mimic of discretion, and may pass upon weak men in the same manner as vivacity is often mistaken for wit, and gravity for wisdom.”
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) said by 1719 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let our object be, our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country. And, by the blessing of God, may that country itself become a vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, but of Wisdom, of Peace, and of Liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admiration for ever!”
Daniel Webster (1782–1852) said by 1852 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Take our constitution, wanting certainly as it did many reforms, yet, practically, it afforded the best security that human wisdom had ever given to man.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) first seen 1156 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (21 July 1812), quoted in The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time, Vol. XXIII (1812), column 1156
“If Christ is the wisdom of God and the power of God in the experience of those who trust and love Him, there needs no further argument of His divinity.”
Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) said by 1887 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Indians do not regret that capable natives can exercise the franchise. They would regret if it were otherwise. They, however, assert that they too, if capable, should have the right. You, in your wisdom, would not allow the Indian or the native the precious privilege under any circumstances, because they have a dark skin.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) first seen 1894 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Times of Natal, October 26, 1894, in Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1, pp. 166-67.
“It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Harijan (17 February 1940)
“May God give power to every word of mine. In his name I began to write this, and in His name I close it. May your statesman have the wisdom and courage to respond to my appeal. I am telling His Excellency the Viceroy that my services are at the disposal of His Majesty's Government, should they consider them of any practical use in advancing the object of my appeal.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) said by 1948 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Then he tried to recall the lessons of Mr. Wisdom. “it is I myself, eternal Spirit, who drives this Me, the slave, along that ledge. I ought not to care whether he falls and breaks his neck or not. It is not he that is real, it is I – I – I.”
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Does the Eagle know what is in the pit? Or wilt thou go ask the Mole? Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod? Or Love in a golden bowl?”
William Blake (1757–1827) first seen 1789 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Book of Thel, Thel's Motto (1789–1792)
“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The hours of folly are measur'd by the clock, but of wisdom no clock can measure.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The pride of the peacock is the glory of God. The lust of the goat is the bounty of God. The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God. The nakedness of woman is the work of God.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is undoubtedly easier to believe in absolutes, follow blindly, mouth received wisdom. But that is self-betrayal.”
John Ralston Saul (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What I am describing is not only a society dominated by corporatist structures, but by the received wisdom of a corporatist atmosphere: one in which the élites are interest-driven, whatever their jobs. And so the society is gradually being redrawn to suit this ethic-free system.”
John Ralston Saul (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By way of a personal compromise, he became an adept of the "noble and pure" wisdom of the Parsees as a means of escaping from the "narrow circle of Hebraic-Rabbinic thought and of reaching the depth and amplitude of Sanskrit".”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) said by 1832 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: as quoted from Poliakov, L. (1974). The Aryan myth : a history of racist and nationalist ideas in Europe p. 195
“We should not go to the people and say, "Here we are. We come to give you the charity of our presence, to teach you our science, to show you your errors, your lack of culture, your ignorance of elementary things." We should go instead with an inquiring mind and a humble spirit to learn at that great source of wisdom that is the people.”
Che Guevara (1928–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The true wisdom is to be always seasonable, and to change with a good grace in changing circumstances. To love playthings well as a child, to lead an adventurous and honourable youth, and to settle when the time arrives, into a green and smiling age, is to be a good artist in life and deserve well of yourself and your neighbour.”
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) said by 1894 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Strength and wisdom are not opposing values.”
Bill Clinton (born 1946) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In support of John Kerry at the Democratic National Convention, Boston, MA, July 26, 2004
“I feel safer with a Pyrrho than with a St. Paul, for a jesting wisdom is gentler than an unbridled sanctity.”
Emil Cioran (1911–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“More helpful than all wisdom is one draught of simple human pity that will not forsake us.”
George Eliot (1819–1880) said by 1880 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The great end of all human industry, is the attainment of happiness. For this were arts invented, sciences cultivated, laws ordained, and societies modelled, by the most profound wisdom of patriots and legislators.”
David Hume (1711–1776) said by 1776 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do not beguile my heart, Because thou art My power and wisdom. Put me not to shame, Because I am Thy clay that weeps, thy dust that calls.”
George Herbert (1593–1633) said by 1633 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Knowledge is the consequence of time, and multitude of days are fittest to teach wisdom.”
Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) said by 1726 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I tweet, therefore my entire life has shrunk to 140 character chunks of instant event and predigested gnomic wisdom. And swearing.”
Neil Gaiman (born 1960) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Neil Gaiman's Twitter stream, Tweet ID # 1178514410, (5 February 2009)
“May God give me the wisdom which I need and grant me what I so fervently desire, that is, to finish my studies as quickly as possible and he ordained, so that I can perform the practical duties of a clergyman.”
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) first seen 1877 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a letter to Theo, from Amsterdam, 19 Nov. 1877; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935], (letter 113), p. 18
“We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.”
Samuel Smiles (1812–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source