Quotes About Wisdom

Overconfidence is fed by the illusory certainty of hindsigh

the accurate intuitions of experts are better explained by the effects of prolonged practice than by heuristics.

people who spend their time, and earn their living, studying a particular topic produce poorer predictions than dart-throwing monkeys who would have distributed their choices evenly over the options. Even in the region they knew best, experts were not significantly better than nonspecialists.

And the more luck was involved, the less there is to be learned.

An unbiased appreciation of uncertainty is a cornerstone of rationality

do not simply trust intuitive judgment—your own or that of others—but do not dismiss it, either.

our excessive confidence in what we believe we know, and our apparent inability to acknowledge the full extent of our ignorance and the uncertainty of the world we live in.

you will often find that knowing little makes it easier to fit everything you know into a coherent pattern.

psychologist Eckhard Hess described the pupil of the eye as a window to the soul. I reread it recently and again found it inspiring.

the person who acquires more knowledge develops an enhanced illusion of her skill and becomes unrealistically overconfident. "We reach the point of diminishing marginal predictive returns for knowledge disconcertingly quickly

our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance

People in their 30s know where the world is going because they're going to do it. I'm in my 80s so I have no idea.

good judgments depend on what you know, how well you think, and how you think.

People who have experienced nothing love to tell stories while people who have experienced a great deal suddenly have no stories to tell at all.

Ich habe herausgefunden, dass der Mensch bereit ist, Unbill zu erfahren, aber viel Erkenntnis entgeht ihm, weil er den Schmerz fürchtet.

Lo sapeva già, ora lui le avrebbe detto che in futuro non ci sarebbe stata alcuna differenza fra quelle regioni, che presto nessuno avrebbe mosso un dito per quello per cui adesso si sacrificava la vita. Ma tutto ciò cosa cambiava? Una certa confidenza con il futuro è una forma di codardia. Credeva davvero che la gente sarebbe diventata più intelligente? Un po' sì, rispose Gauss. Per forza di cose. Ma viviamo in questo momento! Purtroppo, disse.

Which is better, to cover the earth with a carpet or to put on shoes?

A chi gli chiedeva reminiscenze della sua gioventù, il professore rispondeva che non può esserci niente del genere e che i ricordi, a differenza delle calcografie e delle lettere, non riportano una data. Le cose si conservano nella memoria e solo con la riflessione una persona riesce a sistemarle in un ordine temporale.

Qualche volta bisogna avere il coraggio di ritirarsi

Now I understand that one of the important reasons for going to college and getting an education is to learn that the things you've believed in all your life aren't true, and that nothing is what it appears to be.

Don't feel sorry for me. I'm glad I had a second chance in life like you said to be smart because I learned a lot of things that I never knew were in this world, and I'm grateful I saw it even for a little bit.

Strange about learning; the farther I go the more I see that I never knew even existed. A short while ago I foolishly thought I could learn everything - all the knowledge in the world. Now I hope only to be able to know of its existence, and to understand one grain of it. Is there time?

Although we know the end of the maze holds death (and it is something I have not always known--not long ago the adolescent in me thought death could happen only to other people), I see now that the path I choose through that maze makes me what I am. I am not only a thing, but also a way of being--one of many ways--and knowing the paths I have followed and the ones left to take will help me understand what I am becoming.

It's obvious, but perhaps worth saying, that happiness has virtually nothing to do with the state of your intellect.