Quotes About Wisdom

Not to be born at all would be the best thing for man.

Wise men, like wine, are best when old; pretty women, like bread, are best when young.

When a man puts me a question, I judge of his intelligence.

Happy the man who has been able to learn the causes of things.

...I was a young man. I hardly knew what I knew, let alone what I was going to know.

There is no one thoroughly despicable. We cannot descend much lower than an idiot; and an idiot has some advantages over a wise man.

Wall Street's graveyards are filled with men who were right too soon.

One agonizing journey down the gauntlet of youth is enough for any man.

All I can say is that we are mistaken to gouge such a deep rift in history that the things old men and old women know have become so useless as to be not worth passing on to grandchildren.

Except a living man, there is nothing more wonderful than a book.

Ignorant men differ from beasts only in their figure.

The highest kind of man is the one who does before talking and practices what he professes.

The superior man undergoes three changes. Looked at from a distance, he appears stern; when approached, he is mild; when he is heard to speak, his language is firm and decided.

The Way is not for, but from, man; if we take the Way as something superhuman, beyond man, this is not the real Way.

It is hard to fight against anger: to master it is the mark of a rational man.

No man has all the wisdom in the world; everyone has some.

Reading is an art form, and every man can be an artist.

The fool is not the man who merely does foolish things. The fool is the man who does not know enough to cash in on his foolishness.

One man with a head on his shoulders is worth a dozen without.

Why do old men wake so early? Is it to have one longer day?

I am wise enough to know that there are some perils from which a man must flee.

But men must know, that in this theatre of man's life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on.

During the Samuel Johnson days they had big men enjoying small talk; today we have small men enjoying big talk.

If by leaving a small pleasure one sees a great pleasure, let a wise man leave the small pleasure, and look to the great.