Quotes About Wisdom

As author Alain de Botton notes, the problem with facts is not that we need more of them, but that we don't know what to do with the ones we have.

The advice in this book centers around two overarching messages: Be thoughtful in your actions and always conduct yourself with class. You will never regret either.

Some of the worst mistakes in my life were haircuts

Sarah Jane, do you always have to be the teacher?" she asked and then immediately added, "I already know the answer so you don't have to answer that.

The first step of wisdom is to question everything.

I'm beginning to see how the secret ways and deepest mysteries of God and his kingdom are often revealed off the beaten path of organized religion and frequently missed by the too-smart.

Experience is the worst teacher. It gives the test before giving the lesson.—UNKNOWN

It finally occurred to me that maybe studying losses was more important than searching for some Holy Grail to making money.

Smart people learn from their mistakes and wise people learn from somebody else's mistakes.

A fool must now and then be right by chance. —WILLIAM COWPER

knowledge breaks the world into pieces, while wisdom makes it whole...We are sorely deficient in wisdom, lacking a view of how all these pieces of knowledge connect to make the world a better place.

But knowledge breaks the world into pieces, while wisdom makes it whole.

Acknowledge the complexity of the world and resist the impression that you easily understand it. People are too quick to accept conventional wisdom, because it sounds basically true and it tends to be reinforced by both their peers and opinion leaders, many of whome have never looked at whether the facts support the received wisdom. It's a basic fact of life that many things "everybody knows" turn out to be wrong.

Never act upon wishful thinking. Act without checking the facts, and chances are that you will be swept away along with the mob.

Do not worry about failure, I would tell them. Do not worry about making mistakes in life. It is good to lose money, to go broke at least once, and preferably twice. But if you are going to do it, do it early in your career. It is better to go bust when you are talking about $20,000 than when you are talking about $20 million. Do it early, and it is not the end of the world.

The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become.

Words do two major things: They provide food for the mind and create light for understanding and awareness.

If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn't need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.

Take time to gather up the past so that you will be able to draw from your experience and invest them in the future.

Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me.

Formal education will make you a living self-education will make you a fortune.

The book you don't read cant help.

The book you don't read won't help.

The more you know, the less you need to say.