Quotes About Wisdom

Man has always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much-the wheel, New York, wars and so on-while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man-for precisely the same reason.

The wise and good are outnumbered a thousand to one by the brutal and stupid.

I have often found it true that the louder a person speaks, the less they have to say.

How awful a knowledge of the truth can be.

Diversification is the compliment that humility pays to uncertainty.

If you know almost nothing, almost anything will tell you something.

It is better to be approximately right than to be precisely wrong. —Warren Buffett

Myth: When you have a lot of uncertainty, you need a lot of data to tell you something useful. Fact: If you have a lot of uncertainty now, you don't need much data to reduce uncertainty significantly. When you have a lot of certainty already, then you need a lot of data to reduce uncertainty significantly. In other words—if you know almost nothing, almost anything will tell you something.

The fact is that the preference for ignorance over even marginal reductions in ignorance is never the moral high ground.

It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision which the nature of the subject admits and not to seek exactness where only an approximation is possible. —Aristotle (384 b.c.–322 b.c.)

He is one of those wise philanthropists who, in a time of famine, would vote for nothing, but a supply of toothpicks.

The brain is not a shoebox that 'gets full,' but rather a muscle that expands its capacity with increased use. The more you know, the more you can know.

You read widely to be shaped, not so that you might be prepared to regurgitate.

He who walks with the wise will be wise, Scripture saith, and he who walks with the witty will eventually start to pop off himself.

Men are created to exercise dominion over the earth; they are fitted to be husbandman, tilling the earth; they are equipped to be saviors, delivering from evil; they are expected to grow up into wisdom, becoming sages; and they are designed to reflect the image and glory of God. Some of these following terms may seem somewhat cumbersome, but let's call them lords, husbandmen, saviors, sages, and glory-bearers.

The apostle James tells us that a man who can control his tongue can control the rest of his body as well. This goes double for the man who is putting what the tongue does into a more permanent setting.

Criticism should be received as a kindness (Ps. 141:5).

The point of a true education is to, by the grace of God, learn how to refuse to let the soul get old.

Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.' (Prov. 27:17) In a similar way that conversation sharpens a man's countenance, conversation with men throughout history sharpens a man's mind... If this is the case, and it is, then a point should be made to seek out profitable companions in a disciplined fashion throughout your life with books.

Chesterton knew that loving and fighting go together. Loving something while being unwilling to fight for it would be better categorized as lust. And at the same time, a man who sees the world in wisdom knows that loving the world means that he must be willing to fight the world. Loving the world means fighting for the world, and loving the world also means fighting the world.

You read widely to be shaped, not so that you might be prepared to regurgitate. TAKEAWAY

Paul sarcastically notes that the Corinthians are so wise, and this wisdom of theirs is the basis for them "suffering fools gladly." He says that they will tolerate and put up with men who exploit them—but are in effect intolerant of true shepherds. As the people of God, we are being abused by the leadership of the modern evangelical movement—by this I mean the men standing behind the cash registers—and we cravenly submit. We know the taste of boot polish.

A wise man who loves the peaches at home does not want to shake any other trees.

One writer has helpfully noted that education is about formation, not so much information.