Quotes About Wisdom

Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.

Discipline does not mean suppression and control, nor is it adjustment to a pattern or ideology. It means a mind that sees 'what is' and learns from 'what was'.

The "good old times"-all times, when old, are good.

The past is the best way to suppose what may come.

We live in the present, we dream of the future, but we learn eternal truths from the past.

The past is the best prophet of the future.

The past will not tell us what we ought to do, but... what we ought to avoid.

Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.

The only use of a knowledge of the past is to equip us for the present.

The past should be culled like a box of fresh strawberries, rinsed of debris, sweetened judiciously and served in small portions, not very often.

Truth has no beginning.

The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post.

The past with its pleasures, its rewards, its foolishness, its punishments, is there for each of us forever, and it should be.

Then is then. Now is now. We must grow to learn the difference.

To disdain today is to prove that yesterday has been misunderstood.

Half of today is better than all of tomorrow.

We are here and it is now. Further than that, all knowledge is moonshine.

The past is a bucket of ashes, so live not in your yesterdays, nor just for tomorrow, but in the here and now.

Take in the ideas of the day, drain off those of yesterday. As to the morrow, time enough to consider it when it becomes today.

The past cannot be regained, although we can learn from it; the future is not yet ours even though we must plan for it. ... Time is now. We have only today.

We can see well into the past; we can guess shrewdly in to the future; but that which is rolled up and muffled in impenetrable folds is today.

Be satisfied, and pleased with what thou art, Act cheerfully and well thy allotted part; Enjoy the present hour, be thankful for the past, And neither fear, nor wish, the approaches of the last.

It is difficult to live in the present, ridiculous to live in the future and impossible to live in the past.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, nor to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.