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Wisdom
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“Each man follows the path of destiny, but no two paths are alike. It seems that mine now runs into a place of evil intent, wasted wisdom, and stupidity.”
Andre Norton (1912–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Many years did the Prince spend with Maitri, calling her at times Stern One, or Glowing One, or Warrior, or Seeress of the Wisdom of Nagi.”
Helena Roerich (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Lord of Truth answered, “Maitri, manifested Councilor and Keeper. Thou who hast hidden thy wisdom from the crowd. Thou shalst assume My place as the Lord of Compassion and Labor. Maitreya shall lead the nations towards Light. And the arrow of achievement shall bestow the apple of Knowledge.”
Helena Roerich (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The teacher has an impact on student from within then by mere relying on books as a guide will made the static impact specially on practice of deen Where as the kinetic and mobile companionship will bring a dynamic impact Specially in attaining Wisdom (Hikmat e Amli) contextual understanding (Faham o Baseerat).”
Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi (1913–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Since time immemorial, men have known of, and expected the coming of, a great teacher, an outstanding man of wisdom and revealed truth. Cyclically, age after age, have these Great Ones come forth. Today is no exception to this cosmic law. As the new era dawns, men stand expectant as never before for a sight of the Great Teacher Who, though they know it not, is already in men’s midst. p. 24”
Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This group of perfected men is known by many names: the Masters of Wisdom and the Lords of Compassion, the Great White Brotherhood, the Society of Illumined Minds, the Spiritual or Esoteric Hierarchy, the Guides and Elder Brothers of Humanity.... They have beneficently overseen the evolution of humanity for countless millennia.”
Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A tree is known by its fruit and it is by His love, wisdom, spiritual potency and work for humanity that you will recognize Maitreya and know Him for what He is.”
Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When he comes into correct relationship to his brother and his Source, he will inherit that Divine Science, which is his birthright, but is known today only by the Masters of Wisdom.”
Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Philosophers have always spoken of life as a "preparation for death", and of philosophy as a "learning to die". But there is a wisdom prior to that: learning to abstain; not putting anyone in the situation of having to learn to die.”
Julio Cabrera (born 1944) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Porque te amo, não nascerás! Nascituri te salutant, 2009, p. 79
“Like John Lennon said, ‘All You Need Is Love.’” “Yes, but he also said, ‘I Am The Walrus,’ so let’s not hold too much credence to his pearls of wisdom.”
John Marrs wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Was it not the so-called professed authorities in times gone by, as they are today, who criticized and disparaged everything proposed for the betterment of man? The kind of proof demanded was premature and could not in wisdom be given. But time and patience finally vindicated those who brought forth the ideas. Humanity is that much better off today because of them—not because of the skeptics!”
George Adamski (1891–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are fewer potential adepts in an epoch than the superficial imagine. The fate of those who tread this dizzy precipice of wisdom with weak and faltering steps may be readily inferred. What happens to the dizzy-brained and slippery-footed alpine climber? His brain turns, and he falls headlong into the chasm, with a last shriek and a clutching at the air.”
Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907) said by 1907 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“13. Q. What is its meaning? A. Enlightened; or, he who has the all-perfect wisdom. The Pālī phrase is Sabbannu, the One of Boundless Knowledge. In Samskrt it is Sarvajña.”
Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907) said by 1907 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I ain't no G, I'm just a regular failure; I ain't straight outta Compton, I'm straight out the trailer. Cuss like a sailor, drink like a Mick; my only words of wisdom are just <>.”
“Recitation of the mantra helps achieve perfection in the six practices from generosity to wisdom. The path of these six perfections is the path walked by all the Buddhas of the three times. What could then be more meaningful than to say the mantra and accomplish the six perfections?”
Dilgo Khyentse (1910–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I was growing up, Kwanzaa was a special time of reflection with family and friends. Let us carry the wisdom of the seven principles with us as we work to build a brighter future. Happy Kwanzaa.”
Kamala Harris (born 1964) first seen 2024 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Twitter, 26 December 2024
“Wisdom always comes after the event.”
Swami Samarpanananda wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“the Green Party has four pillars on which all of its policy recommendations lie. And that is, they are social justice, ecological wisdom, peace and grassroots democracy. So that means that our foreign policy, our domestic policy, our public policy, in general, would focus on the well-being of the people, on the well-being of this planet.”
Cynthia McKinney (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let us not believe that it is enough to read without unction, to speculate without devotion, to investigate without wonder, to observe without joy, to act without godly zeal, to know without love, to understand without humility, to strive without divine grace, or to reflect as a mirror without divinely inspired wisdom.”
Bonaventure (1221–1274) said by 1274 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations… If you adopt their attitudes, then the possibility won’t exist because you’ll have already shut it out… You can hear other people’s wisdom, but you’ve got to re-evaluate the world for yourself.”
Mae Jemison (born 1956) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students, November 2009
“The autonomy so evident in social movements is hitting the old assumptions of medicine hard. The search for self becomes a search for health, for wholeness—the cache of sanity search for health, for wholeness—the cache of sanity and wisdom that once seemed beyond our conscious reach. p. 241”
Marilyn Ferguson (1938–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Hidden Wisdom and Why It is Concealed”
Geoffrey Hodson (1886–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Noticing and thinking are sometimes a strain and a bafflement and I wonder if the Designers were aware of that when they made it almost impossible for the ordinary citizen to make use of a recorder. Or when they had us all taught that earliest learned wisdom: “When in doubt, forget it.”
Walter Tevis (1928–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do you know what I benefitted from this world? Nothing And what I gained from the days of life? Nothing I am a candle of wisdom; but when extinguished, nothing I am the cup of Jamshid; but when broken nothing”
Khaqani (1121–1199) said by 1199 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do not discount my tears; eternal wisdom has decreed That in this flowing stream the seven millstones all revolve.”
Ghalib (1797–1869) said by 1869 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Christ within who is our hope of glory is not a matter of theological debate or philosophical speculation. He is not a hobby, a part-time project, a good theme for a book, or a last resort when all human effort fails. He is our life, the most real fact about us. He is the power and wisdom of God dwelling within us.”
Brennan Manning (1934–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As business leaders, we should resist the temptation to believe that learning stops after a bachelor's degree, an MBA, or a few years in the workplace. We need only be humble enough to accept the wisdom we are offered.”
Bhanu Choudhrie (born 1978) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Expanding Your Mind, Growing Your Business", Harvard Business School (2019)
“Enki presented me with my broad wisdom.”
Ur-Nammu (2001–2094 BC) said by 2094 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And this superconsciousness of necessity embraces a continual sensation of unconditional bliss and unconditional Love, conjoined with which is a supreme wisdom and power.”
Cyril Scott (1879–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How would the bulk of fastidious Americans with their legislation against this, that and the other, regard a man who had seven hundred wives and two hundred concubines? Would they consider him the wisest man on this whole continent? I should like to know how even he could find the time to cultivate wisdom, under the stress of such extensive erotic obligations.”
Cyril Scott (1879–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whosoever wishes for happiness in the other life, wisdom in this world, equity in their deeds, having all moral qualities, the practice of all virtues, ought to follow in his deeds the example of Mohammed (PBUH) the Messenger of God.”
Ibn Hazm (994–1064) said by 1064 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“…There is no such a thing as an old poet. People are younger and older, chronologically, because of math of calendars, but spirits are young and old simultaneously. Poetry as a professional, life-long pursuit is one that offers wisdom with age, and that’s to be respected…”
Jesús Papoleto Meléndez (born 1950) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On what he hopes to see from future Puerto Rican poets in “A Legend Speaks: An Interview with Nuyorican Poet Jesús Papoleto Meléndez” in Medium (2019 Oct 27)
“Now that so many of the Northern Buddhist scriptures have become available, the opportunities to study and interpret them in light of Theosophy as sourcebooks of the Wisdom-Religion are very great indeed.”
David Reigle (born 1952) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Theosophy and Buddhism Studies in the Wisdom Tradition by David Reigle , in Fohat, A Quarterly Publication of Edmonton Theosophical Society, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 14-17, 22-23] (Spring 2000)
“My father is the wisdom of spontaneous awareness.My mother is the Ever-Excellent Lady, the space of all things....I sustain myself by consuming the concepts of duality.My purpose is the act of killing disturbing emotions.”
Padmasambhava (717–762) said by 762 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in The Lotus-Born: The Life Story of Padmasambhava, (a book review) by Rebecca Radner, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Fall 1993
“Please don’t think that after the awakening of Kundalini all human problems will be automatically solved. The universe is so complicated and human nature so deep that to the last day man will continue to gather wisdom to enable him to live in greater and greater harmony and joy.”
Gopi Krishna (yogi) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, the first thing to remember is, is that President Obama was under enormous pressure to send military equipment to Ukraine/And why did he refuse? Well, I’m not sure what his calculation was, but the, the wisdom of not sending is clear...”
Stephen F. Cohen (1938–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What were some of these teachings? "Man, Know thyself!" For self knowledge - the knowledge of the higher spiritual Self - is the pathway of wisdom, of understanding, of light, of peace, of power; and it comes to man through self-forgetfulness, and self-forgetfulness is the knocking, the mystic knocking, at the door of the initiation-chamber of the temple. (Chapter 3)”
Gottfried de Purucker (1874–1942) said by 1942 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is one of our Theosophical duties to show men the way to wisdom, to peace, to happiness, to strength, and to spiritual power - the real powers, the powers which are safe and clean and sweet, which make a man lovable, which make him compassionate, which guarantee that power put into his hands will be wielded never for self but always in order to benefit others.”
Gottfried de Purucker (1874–1942) said by 1942 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everything you learned in the past is irrelevant, except for the wisdom that pertains to Now.”
Aaravindha Himadra wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[A] country whose elderly — considered by most societies to be repositories of wisdom and dignity — aspire to be perpetual rutting teenagers is not a country that has much to look forward to. If you want to have a future, you need a past.”
Rod Dreher (born 1967) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: America’s Monumental Existential Problem" (30 June 2020), The American Conservative
“Our ascendancy of the past two centuries – first Europe and then the US – has bred a western-centric mentality: the west is the fount of all wisdom. We think of ourselves as open-minded but our sense of superiority has closed our minds. We never entertained the idea that China could surpass the US.”
Martin Jacques (born 1945) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: March 27, 2012 Why do we continue to ignore China's rise? Arrogance
“If we are short of grace and lack the wisdom to handle a particular situation, we may need to be silent. But we must never be political.”
Witness Lee (1905–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have the wisdom of one condemned to death: I own nothing for anything to own me”
Mahmoud Darwish (1941–2008) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: English translation from Fady Joudah's The Butterfly's Burden (2007) Arabic text of the poem: حكمة المحكوم بالإعدام
“There is one God, the Father of the living Word, who is His subsistent Wisdom and Power and Eternal Image.”
Gregory Thaumaturgus (213–270) said by 270 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is real wisdom there about respecting the environment that more enlightened people, supposedly, have forgotten all about.”
Jeremy Wade (born 1956) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jeremy Wade talks new show 'Dark Waters,' myth, and the stories that bind us (April 19, 2019)
“Negative virginity is not yet a celestial virtue; chastity is not yet active wisdom; not to beget is not yet liberation from death — resurrection. It is essential that unconscious procreation be replaced by the task of resuscitation.”
Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov (1828–1903) said by 1903 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If life can no longer be narrated, wisdom deteriorates, and its place is taken by problem-solving.”
Byung-Chul Han (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those who discover that reality of their inmost Being enjoy a sense of peace, love, and wisdom as its natural perfume. They experience their essential nature as true freedom.”
“I say, I am glad, that America has declared herself independent of us, though for Reasons very opposite to theirs. America, I have proved beyond the Possibility of a Confutation, ever was a Millstone hanging about the Neck of this Country, to weigh it down: And as we ourselves had not the Wisdom to cut the Rope, and to let the Burthen fall off, the Americans have kindly done it for us.”
Josiah Tucker (1713–1799) first seen 1783 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Four Letters on Important National Subjects, Addressed to the Right Honourable the Earl of Shelburne, His Majesty's First Lord Commissioner of the Treasury (1783), pp. 7–8
“Now, I have put everything down. I only wish that the Republic of Korea would escape the confusion and get back on track as soon as possible. I again offer apologies to the nation and urge the political circles to bring wisdom together for the hopeful future of the Republic of Korea.”
Park Geun-hye (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source