Quotes About Wisdom

I will simply ask: What is philosophy? What do the writings of the best known philosophers contain? What are the lessons of these friends of wisdom? To listen to them, would one not take them for a troupe of charlatans crying out in a public square, each from his own corner: Come to me. I'm the only one who is not wrong?

But so long as power remains by itself on one side, and enlightenment and wisdom isolated on the other, wise men will rarely think of great things, princes will more rarely carry out fine actions, and the people will continue to be vile, corrupt, and unhappy.

I will explain myself; but this will be to take the most useless, most superfluous precaution; for everything that I will tell you could only be understood by those who do not need to be told

If Sparta and Rome perished, what state can hope to live forever? Hence, if we wish to form a lasting institution, let us not think about making it eternal. In order to succeed we should not attempt the impossible, or flatter ourselves that we are giving the work of men a solidity that does not belong to human things.

Learning is borrowed knowledge; genius is knowledge innate.

Real wisdom is not the knowledge of everything, but the knowledge of which things in life are necessary, which are less necessary, and which are completely unnecessary to know. Among the most necessary knowledge is the knowledge of how to live well, that is, how to produce the least possible evil and the greatest goodness in one's life. At present, people study useless sciences, but forget to study this, the most important knowledge.

Más vale ser un hombre viejo que un muchacho que se cree hombre.

that which is subtle can be more powerful.

You must learn to understand with your heart and mind, not your eyes and ears, then you will know.

It may be a stone you have never seen before or a root with a special shape that has meaning for you. You must learn to understand with your heart and mind, not your eyes and ears, then you will know.

Jean M. Auel

En ocasiones las mujeres que no son perfectas resultan más interesantes; han hecho más o han aprendido algo.

legends, which in the etymological sense are what one should pass on, are only the symbols of a tradional truth transported from one generation to the next.

For someone who constantly comes across this problem in the course of his professional activities, the question whether philosophy has the status of a "wisdom" or of a form of "knowledge" peculiar to itself is no longer an unnecessary or simply a theoretical problem; it is a vital question, since it affects the success or failure of thousands of scholars.

Homine imperito nunquam quidquam injustius. [There is nothing more unfair than an ignoramus.]

When you are a child you are yourself and you know and see everything prophetically. And then suddenly something happens and you stop being yourself; you become what others force you to be. You lose your wisdom and your soul.

He had discovered that people who allow themselves to be blown about by the winds of emotion and impulse are always unhappy people.

Something in her brain that still remained calm told her that she was doing a very foolish thing indeed.

Only seven or eight, and yet she knew so exactly how to be cruel and who it was safe to be cruel to. One must admire Nature..

Moins j'ouvrirai la bouche, moins je ferai figure odieuse et cynique.

Nous ne commençons à prouver quelque chose qu'en persévérant jusque dans un âge où déjà nous sommes contraints à l'économie.

Memoir is about handing over you life to someone and saying, This is what I went through, this is who I am, and maybe you can learn something from it.

Interesting people always have a past.

I packed everything I had into the same suitcase I had brought with me. I was leaving the city with about as much stuff as I had arrived with. But I had learned a lot - about myself and other people.