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Wisdom

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“An eastern contemporary, with a grain of wisdom in its wit, says that "when the whites win a fight, it is a victory, and when the Indians win it, it is a massacre.”
L. Frank Baum (1856–1919) first seen 1891 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Saturday Pioneer (3 January 1891)
“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.”
Lin Yutang (1895–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Pearls of Wisdom: A Harvest of Quotations From All Ages (1987) by Jerome Agel and Walter D. Glanze, p. 46. From The Importance of Living: "besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art…
“I distrust all dead and mechanical formulas for expressing anything connected with human affairs and human personalities. Putting human affairs in exact formulas shows in itself a lack of the sense of humor and therefore a lack of wisdom.”
Lin Yutang (1895–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She had that irony in her eyes. Knowledge without wisdom. Power without purpose. Like me.”
Orson Scott Card (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I interpreted all you did as weakness — but I should have known that it was wisdom and strength, freely shared with all of us, even the ones who don't deserve it.”
Orson Scott Card (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'A woman's wisdom is her gift to women,'" Peggy quoted. "'Her beauty is her gift to men. Her love is her gift to God.'”
Orson Scott Card (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[I]t is a sign of wisdom to be able to use parrhesia without falling into the garrulousness of athuroglossos... One of the problems... how to distinguish that which must be said from that which should be kept silent.”
Michel Foucault (1926–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To discern what is truly essential we need space to think, time to look and listen, permission to play, wisdom to sleep, and the discipline to apply highly selective criteria to the choices we make.”
Greg McKeown (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Older people are most beautiful when they have what is lacking in the young: poise, , wisdom, , and this post-heroic absence of agitation.”
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Modernity: we created youth without heroism, age without wisdom, and life without grandeur.”
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It takes extraordinary wisdom and self-control to accept that many things have a logic we do not understand that is smarter than our own.”
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Trout trudged onward, a stranger in a strange land. His pilgrimage was rewarded with new wisdom, which would never have been his had he remained in his basement in Cohoes. He learned the answer to a question many human beings were asking themselves so frantically: "What's blocking the traffic on the westbound barrel of the Midland City stretch of the Interstate?”
Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man's power appears to have increased out of all proportion to his wisdom. He has never been in a better position to build a healthy, happy, and productive world; yet things have perhaps never seemed so black.”
B. F. Skinner (1904–1990) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Science and Human Behavior (1953)
“Mixing one's wines may be a mistake, but old and new wisdom mix admirably.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Singer, in The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1944), Prologue
“The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set some limit on infinite error.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To understand oneself requires patience, tolerant awareness; the self is a book of many volumes which you cannot read in a day, but when once you begin to read, you must read every word, every sentence, every paragraph for in them are the intimations of the whole. The beginning of it is the ending of it. If you know how to read, supreme wisdom is to be found.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fifth Talk in The Oak Grove, 11 June 1944", J. Krishnamurti Online, JKO Serial No. 440611, Vol. III, p. 219
“Trust in my wisdom. I do not make mistakes. Love my uncertainty for it is not a mistake. It is my intent and will. Remember -- nothing happens without my will. Be still. Do not ask to understand. Do not want to understand.”
Sathya Sai Baba (1926–2011) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sanathana Sarathi, August 1984
“I think a lot of what I was taught, gathered, and learned is worth keeping. Heritage and "wisdom" and simply personal family and local history enrich the one able to tap such information. As it is I wish I had garnered more from my grandparents and parents.”
Gary Gygax (1938–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm looking for a market for wisdom.”
Leó Szilárd (1898–1964) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Close-up : I'm looking for a market for wisdom. : Leo Szilard, scientist" in LIFE‎ magazine, Vol. 51, no. 9 (1 September 1961), p. 75
“When wisdom reaches the pinnacle of perfection, it will suppress the vicious instincts and injurious desires.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Submission to Allah's Will is the best companion; wisdom is the noblest heritage; theoretical and practical knowledge are the best signs of distinction; deep thinking will present the clearest picture of every problem.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no greater wealth than wisdom, no greater poverty than ignorance; no greater heritage than culture and no greater support than consultation.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Loving one another is half of wisdom.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Avarice dulls the faculties of judgment and wisdom.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no capital more useful than intellect and wisdom, and there is no indigence more injurious than ignorance and unawareness.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Understanding the knowledge and wisdom of the Qur'an is by far, higher than memorizing.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, things are frequently what they seem, And this is wisdom's crown: Only the game fish swims upstream, But the sensible fish swims down.”
Ogden Nash (1902–1971) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: When You Say That, Smile", as quoted in Saturday Evening Post, 16 September 1933
“God in his wisdom made the fly And then forgot to tell us why.”
Ogden Nash (1902–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance. Where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor vexation. Where there is poverty and joy, there is neither greed nor avarice. Where there is peace and meditation, there is neither anxiety nor doubt.”
Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) said by 1226 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wisdom doesn’t work as well as you might imagine.” “Everything else works much worse,” said Hetzel.”
Jack Vance (1916–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A surly fellow, Gidion Dirby, who had learned neither wisdom nor tolerance nor generosity from his vicissitudes: the usual order of things. Tragedy was not necessarily ennobling; travail weakened the soul more often than it gave strength.”
Jack Vance (1916–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Experience is the only source of wisdom: by which I mean, the competent conduct of life.”
Jack Vance (1916–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You must save yourselves,” Rogol Domedonfors told them. “You have ignored the ancient wisdom, you have been too indolent to learn, you have sought easy complacence from religion, rather than facing manfully to the world.”
Jack Vance (1916–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Because you cannot walk with the holy, If you're just a halfway decent man. But I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind With a genius marketing plan.I'm trying to tap into some wisdom, Even a little drop would do. I want to rid my heart of envy And cleanse my soul of rage Before I'm through.”
Paul Simon (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Morality is temporary, wisdom is permanent.”
Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Sphinx, the Pyramids, the stone temples are, all of them, ultimately, as flimsy as London Bridge; our cities but tents set up in the cosmos. We pass. But what the bee knows, the wisdom that sustains our passing life — however much we deny or ignore it — that for ever remains.”
P. L. Travers (1899–1996) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What the Bee Knows : Reflections on Myth, Symbol, and Story (1989)
“It may be that to eat and be eaten are the same thing in the end. My wisdom tells me that this is probably so. We are all made of the same stuff, remember, we of the Jungle, you of the City. The same substance composes us — the tree overhead, the stone beneath us, the bird, the beast, the star — we are all one, all moving to the same end. Remember that when you no longer remember me, my child.”
P. L. Travers (1899–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This dead of midnight is the noon of thought, And Wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars.”
Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825) said by 1825 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Mrs. Barbauld
“Reflect upon the providence and wisdom of God in all created things and praise Him in them all.”
Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) said by 1582 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Visit us again, Savior.Your children, burdened with disbelief, blinded by a patina of wisdom, carom down this vale of fear. We cry for you although we have lost your name.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The composer reveals the innermost nature of the world, and expresses the profoundest wisdom in a language that his reasoning faculty does not understand, just as a magnetic somnambulist gives information about things of which she has no conception when she is awake. Therefore in the composer, more than in any other artist, the man is entirely separate and distinct from the artist.”
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) said by 1860 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“the teaching of my philosophy... that our whole existence is something which had better not have been, and that to disown and disclaim it is the highest wisdom.”
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) said by 1860 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is almost everywhere the case that soon after it is begotten the greater part of human wisdom is laid to rest in repositories.”
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) said by 1799 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If I had to pick a religion, I'd pick Buddhism. Buddhism is a kindly religion. It says you got a chance... it's got humor, it's got wisdom, it says to be nice to each other. All the rest of them have gods that want to beat the crap out of you if you defy the rules.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Bush Doctrine is democratic imperialism. This will bleed, bankrupt and isolate this republic. This overthrows the wisdom of the Founding Fathers about what America should be all about.”
Pat Buchanan (born 1938) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Neither perception nor true opinion, nor reason or explanation combined with true opinion could be knowledge… Then our art of midwifery declare to us that all the offspring that have been born are mere wind-eggs and not worth rearing… and if you remain barren, you will be less harsh and gentler to your associates, for you will have the wisdom not to think you know that which you do not know.”
Plato (429–349 BC) said by 349 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The wisdom which knows what are and are not dangers is opposed to the ignorance of them”
Plato (429–349 BC) said by 349 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Neither human wisdom nor divine inspiration can confer upon man any greater blessing than this [live a life of happiness and harmony here on earth].”
Plato (429–349 BC) said by 349 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Then we may begin by assuming that there are three classes of men—lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, lovers of gain?”
Plato (429–349 BC) said by 349 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The owl of wisdom flies, as is well known, after sunset. Thus the theory of a "socialist" system of money and prices was developed only after twilight of inflationist illusions.”
Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source