The collection / 847 fragments

Wisdom.

Explore passages mentioning wisdom, wise. Topic suggestions use transparent word matching, not scholarly classification. Editorial meanings and lexical matches are discovery aids, not independent authentication of a quotation.

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01c. 1842 AD

Wisdom is not found with those who dwell at their ease; rather Nature, when she adds brain, adds difficulty.

Ralph Waldo Emerson / quote

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02c. 1642 AD

Wisdom sends us to childhood; "unless ye become as little children."

Blaise Pascal / quote

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03c. 1842 AD

Wise, cultivated, genial conversation is the best flower of civilisation, and the best result which life has to offer us—a cup for gods, which has no repentance. Conversation is our account of ourselves. All we have, all we can, all we know is brought into play, and as the reproduction, in finer form, of all our havings.

Ralph Waldo Emerson / quote

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04c. 1842 AD

Wise men are not wise at all hours, and will speak five times from their taste or their humour to one from their reason.

Ralph Waldo Emerson / quote

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05c. 1593 AD

Wise sayings are not only for ornament, but for action and business, having a point or edge, whereby knots in business are pierced and discovered.

Francis Bacon / quote

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06c. 1842 AD

Within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence, the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related—the Eternal One.

Ralph Waldo Emerson / quote

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07c. 75 BC

It is fortune, not wisdom, that rules man's life.

Cicero / quote

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08c. 32 AD

It was the wisdom of the ancients to regard the most useful as the most illustrious.

Seneca / quote

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09c. 32 AD

Let us make haste to live, since every day to a wise man is a new life.

Seneca / quote

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10c. 75 BC

Philosophy, rightly defined, is simply the love of wisdom.

Cicero / quote

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11c. 75 BC

The wise are instructed by reason, ordinary minds by experience, the stupid by necessity, and brutes by instinct.

Cicero / quote

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12c. 32 AD

Were wisdom given me with this reservation, that I should keep it shut up within myself and not impart it, I would spurn it.

Seneca / quote

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13c. 32 AD

What should a wise man do if he is given a blow? What Cato did when some one struck him on the mouth;—not fire up or revenge the insult, or even return the blow, but simply ignore it.

Seneca / quote

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14c. 75 BC

Wise sayings are as saltpits; you may extract salt out of them, and sprinkle it where you will.

Cicero / quote

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15c. 1790 AD

Wisdom is only in truth.

Goethe / quote

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16c. 83 AD

Where two discourse, if the one's anger rise, The man who lets the contest fall is wise.

Plutarch / quote

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17c. 1593 AD

We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom; and certainly there is a great difference between a cunning man and a wise man—not only in point of honesty, but in point of ability.

Francis Bacon / quote

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18c. 1593 AD

My Lord St. Albans said that wise nature did never put her precious jewels into a garret four stories high; and, therefore, that exceeding tall men had ever empty heads.

Francis Bacon / quote

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19c. 50 AD

The two powers which in my opinion constitute a wise man are those of bearing and forbearing.

Epictetus / quote

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20c. 1593 AD

It is a point of cunning to wait upon him with whom you speak with your eye, as the Jesuits give it in precept; for there be many wise men that have secret hearts and transparent countenances.

Francis Bacon / quote

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21c. 75 BC

In the eyes of a wise judge proofs by reasoning are of more value than witnesses.

Cicero / quote

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22c. 1593 AD

Wisdom for a man's self is, in many branches thereof, a depraved thing: it is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house some time before it fall; it is the wisdom of the fox, that thrusts out the badger, who digged and made room for him; it is the wisdom of the crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour.

Francis Bacon / quote

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23In print by 1893 AD

A fool knows more in his own house than a wise man in another's.

Traditional proverb · Unknown culture / proverb

Meaning: Local experience can give an ordinary resident knowledge that an accomplished visitor lacks. The contrast warns against confusing general intelligence or prestige with familiarity with a particular place and its routines.

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24In print by 1893 AD

A good road and a wise traveller are two different things.

Traditional proverb · Unknown culture / proverb

Meaning: Favourable conditions and sound judgment are separate advantages. A smooth route cannot choose a destination or decide how someone travels; an easy opportunity still calls for attention and thoughtful choices.

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