Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,159,190 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Wisdom
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“I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's. I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency, for its faith in the wisdom, justice, and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again; I wasn't my own man anymore; I was my country's.”
John McCain (1936–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A man doesn't begin to attain wisdom until he recognizes that he is no longer indispensable.”
Richard E. Byrd (1888–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I won't say, the more intellect, the less capacity for loving; for that would do wrong to the understanding and reason;—but, on the other hand, that the brain often runs away with the heart's best blood, which gives the world a few pages of wisdom or sentiment or poetry, instead of making one other heart happy, I have no question.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809–1894) said by 1894 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809–1894) said by 1894 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On the wisdom with which we bring science to bear in the war against disease, in the creation of new industries, and in the strengthening of our Armed Forces depends in large measure our future as a nation.”
Vannevar Bush (1890–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wisdom is the understanding of celestial things to which the Spirit is brought by Love.”
Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) said by 1850 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God grant me serenity to accept the code I cannot change, courage to change the code I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
Erik Naggum (1965–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He has the manner of a giant with the look of a child, a lazy activeness, a mad wisdom, a solitude encompassing the world.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Orson Welles, as quoted in The New York Times (11 October 1985)
“The extreme limit of wisdom — that’s what the public calls madness.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sand pile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned. These are the things you already know:”
Robert Fulghum (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From a religious perspective, loving one another is the highest commandment. From a spiritual perspective, loving one another is the wisdom of the ages. From a political perspective, loving one another is just the smartest thing to do. Plus, today it’s the only survivable option.”
Marianne Williamson (born 1952) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Twitter (26 Nov 2019)
“To be truly alive is to be transformed from within, open to the energy of God's love. In accepting the power of the Holy Spirit you can also transform your families, communities and nations. Set free the gifts! Let wisdom, courage, awe and reverence be the marks of greatness!”
Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When he thought about it, he wasn’t totally sure what kind of group he did want to be with on a permanent social basis. Late twenties, probably, or early thirties. Young enough not to be boring, old enough to have some wisdom.”
Peter F. Hamilton (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Evidently, the governing standard is to be what might be called the unfettered wisdom of a majority of this Court, revealed to an obedient people on a case-by-case basis.”
Antonin Scalia (1936–2016) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On legislating from the bench: Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654 (1988) (dissenting).
“Since [Walton v. Arizona, 497 U.S.], I have acquired new wisdom ...or, to put it more critically, have discarded old ignorance”
Antonin Scalia (1936–2016) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Admitting fallibility: Concurring in Ring v. Arizona 536 U.S. 584 (2002).
“Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity.”
Antonin Scalia (1936–2016) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address to the Knights of Columbus Council 969 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (January 2005).
“Perhaps we should warn you that there is one thing you won’t read, and that is a pat answer for the problems of life. We don’t pretend to make this a spiritual or psychological patent-medicine chest where one can come and get a pill of wisdom, to be swallowed like an aspirin, to banish the headaches of our times.”
Edward R. Murrow (1908–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It may almost be a question whether such wisdom as many of us have in our mature years has not come from the dying out of the power of temptation, rather than as the results of thought and resolution.”
Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are things greater than our wisdom, beyond our justice. The right and wrong of this we cannot say, and it is not for us to judge.”
Jack London (1876–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Odyssey of the North" in The Best Short Stories of Jack London (1962)
“Every education minister today has a chance of introducing in his education today some simple technique, some simple natural insights into the total reality of life, which the physical sciences have explored in terms of “Unified Field”, which the ancient Vedic wisdom has located in the Self referral consciousness of everyone.”
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1917–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Following the 2000 coup, this august house did not agree to forgive the perpetrators but you decided that justice will take its course. You are confronted with a similar decision now. The military humbly requests that you display the same wisdom then to protect our land now.”
Frank Bainimarama (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dr J. O. Wisdom once observed to me that he knew people who thought there was no philosophy after Hegel, and others who thought there was none before Wittgenstein; and he saw no reason for excluding the possibility that both were right.”
Ernest Gellner (1925–1995) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Spectacles & Predicaments (1979)
“So I say to you, citizens of the last Arab country, this is a time for courage, for unity, for wisdom, for determination, to face these enemies with the dignity your president has shown, and I believe, God willing, we will prevail and triumph, wa-salam aleikum.”
George Galloway (born 1954) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a lecture at the University of Damascus, as broadcast by Al-Jazeera TV (13 November 2005).
“We as a community have become so immersed in rituals and hundreds of paraphernalia when it comes to religion that we are no longer aware of the real wisdom of Hinduism.”
Mahendra Chaudhry (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is astonishing what force, purity, and wisdom it requires for a human being to keep clear of falsehoods.”
Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) first seen 1842 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Notes from Cambridge, Massachusetts (July 1842) published in Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli (1852), Vol. II, p. 64
“The National Day of Prayer has great significance for us as a nation. It enables us to recall and to teach the way in which our forebearers sought the wisdom of God faced with critical decisions. It stands as a call to us to humbly come before God, seeking His guidance for our leaders and His grace upon us as a nation.”
Josefa Iloilo (1920–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We urgently need the mechanisms to deal with differences as they emerge because we want to progress together. Today we must start to resolve to make a difference, individually, as families and communities and we cannot do this alone as we need others and more importantly the wisdom and divine intervention in our affairs.”
Josefa Iloilo (1920–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If everything, everything were known, statistical estimates would be unnecessary. The science of probability gives mathematical expression to our ignorance, not to our wisdom.”
Samuel R. Delany (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man has long talked somewhat arrogantly about the conquest of nature; now he has the power to achieve his boast. It is our misfortune-it may well be our final tragedy-that this power has not been tempered with wisdom, but has been marked by irresponsibility; that there is all too little awareness that man is part of nature, and that the price of conquest may well be the destruction of man himself.”
Rachel Carson (1907–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While those who lusted for undeserved power, and their many misguided followers, were embarked upon a malignant enterprise against their homeland and its leaders, most successors to ancient warriors and the ethically naked but finely attired retailers of divine wisdom sank deeper into the ashes of their own vice.”
Vijay R. Singh (1931–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“…if we intend to pursue the history of our species in its further attainments, we may soon enter on subjects which will confine our observation to more narrow limits. The genius of political wisdom and civil arts appears to have chosen his seats in particular tracts of the earth, and to have selected his favourites in particular races of men.”
Adam Ferguson (1723–1816) said by 1816 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Challenging the conventional wisdom is the way to make waves in science.”
James Lovelock (1919–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.”
Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672) said by 1672 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You fought well and you fought for justice.” “Justice?” Hawkmoon called after him as he left the room. “Is there such a thing?” “It can be manufactured in small quantities,” Fank told him. “But we have to work hard, fight well and use great wisdom to produce just a tiny amount.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Knowledge ceases to be wisdom when one has no method for making sense or use of what one learns.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How paltry is the thing they call science. We have something far superior! We have Faith. We have a Force greater than Reason! We have a wisdom beyond mere knowledge. We have the Holy Grail itself. The Chalice of Limitless Power!”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You think we are in danger there?” “Danger? It depends what you regard as dangerous. Some wisdom may be dangerous to one man and not to another.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Bolsheviks themselves will not want, with hand on heart, to deny that, step by step, they have to feel out the ground, try out, experiment, test now one way now another, and that a good many of their measures do not represent priceless pearls of wisdom. Thus it must and will be with all of us when we get to the same point–even if the same difficult circumstances may not prevail everywhere.”
Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You can never know everything, and part of what you know is always wrong. Perhaps even the most important part. A portion of wisdom lies in knowing that. A portion of courage lies in going on anyway.”
Robert Jordan (1948–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.”
E. O. Wilson (1929–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don't gain the world and lose your soul Wisdom is better than silver and gold.”
Bob Marley (1945–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Economists often like startling theorems, results which seem to run counter to conventional wisdom.”
Joseph Stiglitz (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wisdom, Power and Goodness meet In the bounteous field of wheat.”
Hannah Flagg Gould (1788–1865) said by 1865 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no kind of framework within which we can find consciousness in the plural; this is simply something we construct because of the temporal plurality of individuals, but it is a false construction... The only solution to this conflict insofar as any is available to us at all lies in the ancient wisdom of the Upanishad.”
Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.”
Marilyn vos Savant (born 1946) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Courage: the heart and spirit of every woman : reclaiming the forgotten virtue (2001) by Sandra Ford Walston
“He was gifted with the sly, sharp instinct for self-preservation that passes for wisdom among the rich.”
Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To know and love one other human being is the root of all wisdom.”
Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why then do you occupy me with the words rather than with the works of wisdom? Make me braver, make me calmer, make me the equal of Fortune, make me her superior.”
Seneca the Younger (5 BC–65) said by 65 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To no creature besides man has been given wisdom, foresight, industry, and reflection.”
Seneca the Younger (5 BC–65) said by 65 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The mystic and the physicist arrive at the same conclusion; one starting from the inner realm, the other from the outer world. The harmony between their views confirms the ancient Indian wisdom that Brahman, the ultimate reality without, is identical to Atman, the reality within.”
Fritjof Capra (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source