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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

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

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

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

“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

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

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

“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

“Wisdom is to speak the truth and act in keeping with its nature.” Heraclitus, On Nature

“Wisdom . . . is the oneness of mind that guides and permeates all things.” Heraclitus, On Nature

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

“For such is the nature of men, that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent, or more learned; Yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves: For they see their own wit at hand, and other...” Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

“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

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

“Then we may begin by assuming that there are three classes of men—lovers of wisdom, lovers of honour, lovers of gain?” Plato, The Republic

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

“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

“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

“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

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

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

“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

“For this is hardest of all: to close the open hand out of love, and keep modest as a giver. Thus passed with the lonesome one months and years; his wisdom meanwhile increased, and caused him pain by its abundance.” Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

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

“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

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

“It is of the greatest important in this world that a man should know himself, and the measure of his own strength and means; and he who knows that he has not a genius for fighting must learn how to govern by the arts of peace.” Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

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

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

“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

“We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it—and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again—and that is well; but also she will...” Mark Twain, Following the Equator

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

“Wisdom is the understanding of celestial things to which the Spirit is brought by Love.” Honoré de Balzac, Séraphîta

“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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“She hoped to be wise and reasonable in time; but alas! alas! she must confess to herself that she was not wise yet.” Jane Austen, Persuasion

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

“let us seek the love of simple, ignorant people. Their ignorance is better than all our knowledge. Let us be silent, content in our little corner, meek and gentle like them. That is the wisdom of life.” W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence

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

“Do my best all-round keep good company, read good books, love good things, and cultivate soul and body as faithfully and wisely as I can.” Louisa May Alcott, Rose in Bloom

“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

“With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have ever lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor.” Henry David Thoreau, Walden

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

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

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

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Related topics

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

Related authors

William Shakespeare (22)
Lao Tzu (2)
J. R. R. Tolkien (4)
Heraclitus (3)
Jane Austen (2)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (2)
Mark Twain (1)
Charles Dickens (1)
Sophocles (5)
Francis Bacon (3)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (2)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2)
George R. R. Martin (2)
Michel de Montaigne (2)
Niccolò Machiavelli (2)
Leonardo da Vinci (1)
Paulo Coelho (1)
Henry David Thoreau (1)
Oscar Wilde (1)
Plato (1)

Related sources

On Nature (3)
Tao Te Ching (2)
Henry IV, Part 2 (2)
Romeo and Juliet (1)
Richard III (1)
Antigone (5)
As You Like It (4)
Richard II (3)
The Essays of Francis Bacon (3)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (2)
The Prince (2)
The Essays of Michel de Montaigne (2)
A Game of Thrones (2)
The Fellowship of the Ring (2)
Hamlet (1)
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (1)
Measure for Measure (1)
Twelfth Night (1)
The Merchant of Venice (1)
King Lear (1)

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William Shakespeare quotes about wisdom