Quotes About Wisdom

If God had let me come at once, as I prayed, then everything would have been different, I should only have had a little bread to bring to grandmother, and I should not have been able to read, which is such a comfort to her; but God has arranged it all so much better than I knew how to; everything has happened just as the other grandmother said it would

But mind, when he explains anything to you, you won't be able to understand; but don't ask any questions, or else he will go on explaining and you will understand less than ever. Later when you have learnt more and know about things yourself, then you will begin to understand what he meant.

my tutor is very kind, and never cross, and he will explain everything to you. But mind, when he explains anything to you, you won't be able to understand; but don't ask any questions, or else he will go on explaining and you will understand less than ever. Later when you have learnt more and know about things yourself, then you will begin to understand what he meant.

we could not pray for anything any more, because we would feel that He always knows of something better.

God does not give us what we ask for, even when we pray and pray and pray, if He knows there is something better for us.

Study Bach, there you will find everything.

I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.

Temporis filia veritas; cui me obstetricari non pudet . Truth is the daughter of time, and I feel no shame in being her midwife.

Discover the force of the skies O Men: once recognised it can be put to use.

The more we know the easier it is to survive. Knowledge dispels fear.

When writing the constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, John Adams wrote: I must judge for myself, but how can I judge, how can any man judge, unless his mind has been opened and enlarged by reading.

Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.

Nineteen twentieths of [mankind is] opaque and unenlightened. Intimacy with most people will make you acquainted with vices and errors and follies enough to make you despise them.

Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially of the lower class of people, are so extremely wise and useful, that, to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant.

Everything in life should be done with reflection.

There are persons whom in my heart I despise, others I abhor. Yet I am not obliged to inform the one of my contempt, nor the other of my detestation. This kind of dissimulation...is a necessary branch of wisdom, and so far from being immoral...that it is a duty and a virtue.

I discovered books and read forever

when men know not what to do , they ought not to do they know not what

A taste for literature and a turn for business, united in the same person, never fails to make a great man.

He wrote as a young man that God's noblest gift was the gift of an inquiring mind.

I cannot think it either Vanity or Virtue to acknowledge, that the Acquisition and communication of Knowledge, are the sole Entertainment of my Life

One's relationship with money is lifelong, it colors one's sense of identity, it shapes one's attitude to other people, it connects and splits generations; money is the arena in which greed and generosity are played out, in which wisdom is exercised and folly committed. Freedom, desire, power, status, work, possession: these huge ideas that rule life are enacted, almost always, in and around money.

Money brings about good consequences – helps us live valuable lives – only when joined with 'virtues'. Virtues are good abilities of mind and character.

Friendships are older than friends.