Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,161,747 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Wisdom
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“In politics we do well to abide by precedent and precept and even prejudice, for the great mysterious incorporation of the human race has acquired a prescriptive wisdom far greater than any man’s petty private rationality.”
Russell Kirk (1918–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, perhaps you have begun your journey toward wisdom, Mr. Flattery,” Kent said seriously. “We have such a short time and the journey is so terribly long. One cannot begin too soon.”
Sean Russell (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Following conventional wisdom and relying on shortcuts can be worse than knowing nothing at all.”
Ben Horowitz (born 1966) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Forbes: "5 Obstacles That Inspired Me To Innovate" (28 June 2018)
“She looked up at the towering wisdom and felt a sudden love for it—as if these books were family.”
Karl Schroeder (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Particulars are frequently fallible, but universals never. Occult philosophy lays bare Nature in her complete nakedness, and alone contemplates the wisdom of universals by the eyes of intelligence. Accustomed to partake of the rivers which flow from the Fountain of Life, it is unacquainted with grossness and with clouded waters.”
Robert Fludd (1574–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Robert Fludd, cited in: (1887). The Real History of the Rosicrucians Founded on Their Own Manifestoes. p. 290
“One who knows little may explain that little with more ease and efficacy than one who has his head stuffed full of the prescribed bunch of official wisdom.”
Joseph Dietzgen (1828–1888) said by 1888 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Europe in its infinite wisdom decided to deal with this bankruptcy by loading the largest loan in human history on the weakest of shoulders … What we’ve been having ever since is a kind of fiscal waterboarding that has turned this nation into a debt colony.”
Yanis Varoufakis (born 1961) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the austerity terms of Greece's €240bn bailout, as quoted in "Yanis Varoufakis: In his own words" at BBC News (3 February 2015)
“You are that rarest of creatures: a man with the wisdom to see beyond his own time.”
Alastair Reynolds (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The king, in his wisdom, understood the spirit of the age, and shaped his plans accordingly.”
Akbar (1542–1605) said by 1605 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ain-i-Akbari by Abul Fazl. quoted from Lal, K. S. (1992). The legacy of Muslim rule in India. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. Chapter 3
Also quoted by: Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak
“Perhaps with knowing will come caring, and with caring, an impetus toward the needed sea change of attitude, one that combines the wisdom of science and the sensitivity of art to create an enduring ethic.”
Sylvia Earle (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Education is training in wisdom and virtue, and the exercise of these is freedom.”
Everett Dean Martin (1880–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The first place he went into was the Royal Exchange, .... where men of all ages and all nations were assembled, with no other view than to barter for interest. ... David ... resolved to stay no longer in a place where riches were esteemed goodness, and deceit, low cunning, and giving up all things to the love of gain were thought wisdom.”
Sarah Fielding (1710–1768) first seen 1744 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Adventures of David Simple, bk. 1, ch. 4 (1744), pp. 24-26
“The love of wisdom in its wholeness requires exploration of the sources of the things we take for granted, including the thinking that has sorted out all the various disciplines, making demarcations between fields as well as envisioning what is to be done within them.”
Harvey Flaumenhaft (born 1938) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Preface to Masterworks of Discovery series (2011)
“I shall maintain that there simply is no such thing as philosophical knowledge, nor any philosophical way of knowing anything, and defend the humble point that philosophy is indeed the love of wisdom.”
Richard Taylor (philosopher) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Review of Metaphysics (June, 1968) p. 615
“I also apply wisdom most of the time”
Ibukun Awosika (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Saintliness does not hinge upon those things which are put at a premium by the foolishly "saintly," but upon true perfection and great wisdom.”
Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707–1746) said by 1746 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We thank thee for the wisdom of the fathers in the formation of this government, and for the assistance thou didst render them in arriving at the great principles relating to the equality of man. We thank thee for the glorious declaration.”
Owen Lovejoy (1811–1864) first seen 1838 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in His Brother's Blood: Speeches and Writings, 1838–64 (2004), edited by William Frederick Moore and Jane Ann Moore, p. 394
“In war, men lose what makes them great. Their creativity. Their wisdom. Their joy. All that's left is their utility. War is not monstrous for making corpses of men so much as it is for making machines of them. And woe to those who have no use in war except to feed the machines.”
Pierce Brown (born 1988) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom. This life is one great object lesson to practice on the principles of immortality and eternal life. Man grows with his higher aims. Let naught that is unholy enter here.”
Karl G. Maeser (1828–1901) first seen 1900 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Written on a chalk board during his Nov. 9th, 1900 visit to Maeser Elementary School in Provo, Utah; Maeser Chalkboards Preserved
“When I was young, I learned a quote in Sunday school that has stayed with me throughout my life. It said, 'teach us to number our days that we gain a heart of wisdom.' * Most of us will wake up 28,762 days- and then one day - we won’t. That means you have about 21,000 days left - and about 14,000 of them for your career. So herein lies the urgency.”
Steve Blank (born 1953) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: NYU Commencement Speech, "Steve Blank to Millennials: 'Make the Days of Your Life Matter'", May 23, 2016.
“What is wisdom? If you are a mystic you become totally empty and you are given whatever you need. For example, there is a plane where all the knowledge is, and you can go there. You can get whatever you need.”
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The egotism of wisdom: to burn all that is pettily, painfully, stupidly selfish in the fire of love of spiritual vision and freedom.”
Vilhelm Ekelund (1880–1949) said by 1949 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To turn the Communion into a cheap replica of Orthodoxy – were such a feat even possible – would be to sell the very soul of Anglicanism. We need wisdom from the Archbishop that will help Anglicans find new unity; not more space to express greater individualisms.”
Martyn Percy (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Business reengineering isn't about fixing anything. Business reengineering means starting all over, starting from scratch. Business reengineering means putting aside much of the received wisdom of two hundred years of industrial management,... How people and companies did things yesterday doesn't matter to the business reengineer.”
Michael Hammer (1948–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In this study, the primary aim has been to provide a perspective on organization development which would combine basic truths with practical realities. The answers had to be drawn, in the first place, from the wisdom of the great authorities of the past. These were the pioneers in scientific management and their followers, and the economists who evolved the principles of profit maximization.”
Ernest Dale (1917–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Longer than memory we have known that each animal has its power and place, each a skill, virtue, wisdom, innocence — a special access to the structure and flow of the world. Each surpasses ourselves in some way. Together, sacred, they help hold the cosmos together, making it a joy and beauty to behold, but above all a challenge to understand as story, drama, and sacred play.”
Paul Shepard (1925–1996) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Others: How Animals Made Us Human (1996), Island Press, 1997, Part V, p. 173.
“The fact that human evolution has been recent, copious and regional is not widely recognized, even though it has now been reported by many articles in the literature of genetics. The reason is in part that the knowledge is so new and in part because it raises awkward challenges to deeply held conventional wisdom.”
Nicholas Wade (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am today beginning to understand as I have never understood before, the secret springs of English poetry and English thought and the getting of that wisdom which infuses the slow English character. The green and tranquil place sends forth from her soil the love of peace and of good humour and of contentment.”
Robert Menzies (1894–1978) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Diary (11 May 1935), after visiting Cambridgeshire. — Judith Brett, Political Lives (1997), pp. 76–7
“The throne of Cupid had an easy stair; His bark is fit to sail with every wind; The breach he makes no wisdom can repair.”
Edward Fairfax (1580–1635) said by 1635 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sky drips its spectral And Gods, like men, to soot revert.Gone is the mild, the serene air.The golden years are come too late.Pursue not wisdom or virtue here,But what blind motion, what dim lastRegret of men who slew their pastRaised up this bribe against their fate.”
Donald Davidson (poet) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Apollonius … explained his motive in practicing wisdom, declaring that the sole use he had made of it was to gain knowledge of the gods and an understanding of human affairs, for that the difficulty of knowing another man exceeded that of knowing oneself.”
Philostratus (170–250) said by 250 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The secret of life is to let every segment of it produce its own yield at its own pace. Every period has something new to teach us. The harvest of youth is achievement; the harvest of middle-age is perspective, the harvest of age is wisdom; the harvest of life is serenity.”
Joan Chittister (born 1936) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Enter to grow in wisdom. / Depart to serve better thy country and thy kind.”
Charles William Eliot (1834–1926) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Over entrance (“Enter”) and exit (“Depart”) of Dexter gate (gift of Class of 1890) to Harvard Yard, erected 1901.
“Books are living things and their task lies in their vows of silence. You touch them as they quiver with a divine pleasure. You read them and they fall asleep to happy dreams for the next ten years. If you do them the favor of understanding them, of taking in their portions of grief and wisdom, then they settle down in contented residence in your heart.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And she was off, leaping like a salmon from idea to idea. Hers was the kind of fast and playful intellect that enjoyed tossing a stone into the pond of received wisdom, just to see the frogs jump.”
Michael Swanwick (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I reminded myself that Khang Phi is bereft of arms. That the monks abhor violence. That they always yield to strength, then seduce it with reason and wisdom. Yes, sometimes it does take a while.”
“Wisdom is intelligence in context.”
Raheel Farooq wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The soul completely dominated by its desire for spiritual instruction is never sated.It is because of this that Wisdom says of herself, 'Those who eat Me will still be hungry' (Eccles. 24:21); while the Lord, who has instilled this divine desire in the soul, says of Mary who chose 'what is best' that it will not be taken away from her (cf. Luke 10:42).”
Gregory Palamas (1296–1359) said by 1359 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Taxes are a means of influencing production and commerce to give to them a direction which they would not naturally have taken. Such an influence may undoubtedly have disagreeable consequences if the taxes are imposed without discrimination or exclusively for a fiscal purpose, but it is entirely otherwise if wisdom and tact preside at their institution.”
Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot (1796–1832) said by 1832 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tripitaka stepped lightly ashore. He had discarded his earthly body; he was cleansed from the corruption of the senses, from the fleshly inheritance of those bygone years. His was now the transcendent wisdom that leads to the Further Shore, the mastery that knows no bounds.”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Before you can master any of the other axioms of wisdom, you must first strive to be men and women of honor and integrity. That is what sets the great leaders above the commonplace. It will not be easy. It never is. But it is also not complicated.”
William H. McRaven (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We of the Occident are about to arrive at a crossroads that was reached by the thinkers of India some seven hundred years before Christ. This is the real reason, why we become both vexed and stimulated, uneasy and yet interested, when confronted with the concepts and images of Oriental wisdom.”
Heinrich Zimmer (1890–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted from Gewali, Salil (2013). Great Minds on India. New Delhi: Penguin Random House.
“At a time when officials of particular nations on earth are vying to vaunt the ability of their leadership or the merit of incomparable power even in the looming shadow of catastrophic conflict, the wisdom of the DDJ seems ever more compelling and urgent.”
Anthony C. Yu (1938–2015) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Comparative Journeys: Essays on Literature and Religion East and West (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), 'Reading the Daodejing, p. 277
“Mother is the first Guru to a child. Then comes father. Later, he who gives knowledge is the Guru. After that comes the Guru who teaches the secret of a good life and of true happiness. Last of all, when wisdom comes, one is a Guru unto oneself.”
Narayana Guru (1855–1928) said by 1928 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Justice alone knows liberty, equality, and fraternity, and justice is a human virtue arising from man's human capacity to reason. We cannot make sense out of justice by looking at the moon or taking dope or building battleships. We can make sense out of justice by using our reason to discover that justice, like wisdom, is better than rubies.”
Milton Mayer (1908–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wisdom, someone said, is about knowing the difference between the things you can control and the things you can't. Today, if things go my way, great; and if they don't, that's okay, too, since I always have the chance to overcome them in the future. Whenever my team loses a game, it's an opportunity to learn something. A game is always an experiment.”
“Having erased Sedan, we now must erase Waterloo. France cannot be a great continental power unless she is a Rheinish power... French political wisdom has never consisted in immoderate acquisitions. In the days of France's European hegemony, she always preferred influence and infiltration to indigestion.”
Jacques Bainville (1879–1936) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Action Française (1 December 1918), quoted in William R. Keylor, Jacques Bainville and the Renaissance of Royalist History in Twentieth-Century France (1979), p. 129
“Being able to love others is a form of blessing. Being able to understand others is a form of wisdom.”
Jun Hong Lu (1959–2021) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Singapore, (17 February 2017).
“The bones of Cambodia, and the millions who risked death to flee communist Vietnam and Laos for an uncertain life anywhere else, tells us about the moral value, though not necessarily the military tactical wisdom, of the anti-communist cause.”
Alan Charles Kors (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Welcome to the citadel of eternal wisdom. Behold, this crystal contains the sum of all human knowledge -- Except Rap And Country”