Quotes About Wisdom

Silence was never written down.

He who lets the goat be laid on his shoulders is soon after forced to carry the cow.

Proverbs bear age and he who should do well may view himself in them as in a looking-glass.

A wise man cares not for that which he cannot have.

He that jokes confesses.

He who knows little quickly tells it.

He who knows nothing doubts nothing.

Never let people see the bottom of your purse or of your mind.

To a quick question, give a slow answer.

Years and sins are always more than owned.

Illness tells us what we are.

What harbor can receive you more securely than a great library?

Who are we, who is each one of us, if not a combinatoria of experiences, information, books we have read, things imagined?

One should be light like a bird and not like a feather.

Every new book I read comes to be a part of that overall and unitary book that is the sum of my readings...if you need little to set the imagination going, I require even less: the promise of reading is enough.

In politics, as in every other sphere of life, there are two important principles for a man of any sense: don't cherish too many illusions, and never stop believing that every little bit helps.

From mirror to mirror — this is what I happen to dream of — the totality of things, the whole, the entire universe, divine wisdom could concentrate their luminous rays into a single mirror. Or perhaps the knowledge of everything is buried in the soul, and a system of mirrors that would multiply my image would then reveal to me the soul of the universe, which is hidden in mine.

You'll understand when you've forgotten what you understood before

A volte uno si crede incompleto ed è soltanto giovane.

Esiste una leggerezza della pensosità, così come tutti sappiamo che esiste una leggerezza della frivolezza; anzi, la leggerezza pensosa può far apparire la frivolezza come pesante e opaca.

The art of writing tales consists in an ability to draw the rest of life from the little one has understood of it; but life begins again at the end of the page, and one realises that one has knew nothing whatsoever.

While the hemlock was being prepared, Socrates was learning a melody on the flute. "What use will that be to you?", he was asked. "At least I will learn this melody before I die.

Leave me like this. I have come full circle and I understand. The world must be read backward. All is clear.

For years I have been coming to this library, and I explore it volume by volume, shelf by shelf, but I could demonstrate to you that I have done nothing but continue the reading of a single book.