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Wisdom quotes

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“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” William Shakespeare, “As You Like It” - 1623

“Wisdom is the daughter of experience.” Leonardo da Vinci, “The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci” - 1478 – 1519

“Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.” William Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet” - 1597

“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;” William Shakespeare, “Hamlet” - 1623

“Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. ” Carl Sagan, “Cosmos” - 1980

“So wise so young, they say, do never live long.” William Shakespeare, “Richard III” - 1597

“No wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise.” Lewis Carroll, “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” - 1865

“There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness.” Herman Melville, “Moby-Dick” - 1851

“The wise man thinks about his troubles only when there is some purpose in doing so; at other times he thinks about other things, or, if it is night, about nothing at all.” Bertrand Russell, “The Conquest of Happiness” - 1930

“It's the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them.” Paulo Coelho, “The Alchemist” - 1988

“If everything in the universe were sensible, nothing would happen.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov” - 1880

“A wise man will make more opportunities, than he finds.” Francis Bacon, “The Essays of Francis Bacon” - 1597

“Chastisement for errors past Wisdom brings to age at last.” Sophocles, “Antigone” - c. 441 BC

“Of happiness the chiefest part is a wise heart: And to defraud the gods in aught with peril's fraught.” Sophocles, “Antigone” - c. 441 BC

“For the function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil; whereas, inasmuch as all things morally wrong are evil, trickery prefers the evil to the good.” Marcus Tullius Cicero, “On Duties” - 44 BC

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching” - 4th century BC

“Stupidity and wisdom meet in the same centre of sentiment and resolution, in the suffering of human accidents.” Michel de Montaigne, “The Essays of Michel de Montaigne” - 1580

“Real wisdom is being stored away in the subcellars by the misers of learning.” Henry Miller, “Tropic of Cancer” - 1934

“And he that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.” J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Fellowship of the Ring” - 1954

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Nature” - 1836

“His grief he will not forget; but it will not darken his heart, it will teach him wisdom.” J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Return of the King” - 1955

“The most manifest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness” Michel de Montaigne, “The Essays of Michel de Montaigne” - 1580

“Wisdom is to speak the truth and act in keeping with its nature.” Heraclitus, “On Nature” - c. 535 – c. 475 BCE

“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Emile, or On Education” - 1762

“The wise speak only of what they know” J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Two Towers” - 1954

“knowledge should lead to wisdom, and . . . if it doesn't, it's just a disgusting waste of time!” J. D. Salinger, “Franny and Zooey” - 1961

“why am I so stupid that if others are stupid—and I know they are—yet I won't be wiser?” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Crime and Punishment” - 1867

“Wisdom . . . is the oneness of mind that guides and permeates all things.” Heraclitus, “On Nature” - c. 535 – c. 475 BCE

“True words aren't eloquent; eloquent words aren't true. Wise men don't need to prove their point; men who need to prove their point aren't wise.” Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching” - 4th century BC

“I hate people who are not serious about meals. It is so shallow of them.” Oscar Wilde, “The Importance of Being Earnest” - 1895

“Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.” William Shakespeare, “King Lear” - 1623

“Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.” William Shakespeare, “A Midsummer Night's Dream” - 1601

“But if I had wit enough to get out of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.” William Shakespeare, “A Midsummer Night's Dream” - 1601

“Well, God give them wisdom that have it; and those that are fools, let them use their talents.” William Shakespeare, “Twelfth Night” - 1623

“Since the little wit that fools have was silenced, the little foolery that wise men have makes a great show.” William Shakespeare, “As You Like It” - 1623

“The dullness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits.” William Shakespeare, “As You Like It” - 1623

“The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly.” William Shakespeare, “As You Like It” - 1623

“It is a wise father that knows his own child.” William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice” - 1600

“O, it is excellent to have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.” William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure” - 1623

“All places that the eye of heaven visits are to a wise man ports and happy havens. Teach thy necessity to reason thus; there is no virtue like necessity.” William Shakespeare, “Richard II” - 1595

“For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite the man that mocks at it and sets it light.” William Shakespeare, “Richard II” - 1595

“Wise men ne'er sit and wail their woes, but presently prevent the ways to wail.” William Shakespeare, “Richard II” - 1595

“You are bound to go up and down, just as I did in my youth, but do keep your clarity of mind, and if fools or sages dare to criticise don't blame yourself too much.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, “This Side of Paradise” - 1920

“I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men.” William Shakespeare, “Henry IV, Part 2” - 1600

“Well, thus we play the fools with the time, and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us.” William Shakespeare, “Henry IV, Part 2” - 1600

“I feel within me a peace above all earthly dignities, a still and quiet conscience.” William Shakespeare, “Henry VIII” - 1623

“She hath more hair than wit, and more faults than hairs, and more wealth than faults.” William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” - 1623

“He's truly valiant that can wisely suffer the worst that man can breathe, and make his wrongs his outsides, to wear them like his raiment, carelessly, and ne'er prefer his injuries to his heart, to bring it into danger.” William Shakespeare, “Timon of Athens” - 1623

“Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.” William Shakespeare, “Henry VI, Part 3” - 1595

“At fifteen, life had taught me that surrender, sometimes, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.” Maya Angelou, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” - 1969

Related topics

foolishness stupidity life age heart wit love madness strength men self-knowledge modesty knowledge listening happiness understanding pain books thought peace

Related authors

William Shakespeare (22)
Sophocles (5)
J. R. R. Tolkien (4)
Heraclitus (3)
Francis Bacon (3)
Jane Austen (2)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (2)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (2)
Lao Tzu (2)
Michel de Montaigne (2)
Niccolò Machiavelli (2)
Oscar Wilde (1)
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1)
Lewis Carroll (1)
Herman Melville (1)
John Green (1)
Charles Dickens (1)
Maya Angelou (1)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1)
Rudyard Kipling (1)

Related sources

Antigone (5)
As You Like It (4)
Richard II (3)
On Nature (3)
The Essays of Francis Bacon (3)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (2)
Henry IV, Part 2 (2)
Tao Te Ching (2)
The Essays of Michel de Montaigne (2)
The Prince (2)
The Fellowship of the Ring (2)
Romeo and Juliet (1)
Hamlet (1)
Twelfth Night (1)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1)
The Merchant of Venice (1)
King Lear (1)
Richard III (1)
The Importance of Being Earnest (1)
This Side of Paradise (1)

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William Shakespeare quotes about wisdom