Quotes About Wisdom

In spite of every sage whom Greece can show,Unerring wisdom never dwelt below;Folly in all of every age we see,The only difference lies in the degree.

Attach yourself to those who advise you rather than praise you.

Greatest fools are the most often satisfied.

However big the fool, there is always a bigger fool to admire him.

Some excel in rhyme who reason foolishly.

The wisest man is he who does not fancy that he is so at all.

Greatest fools are oft most satisfied.

A fop sometimes gives important advice.

A fool can always find a greater fool to admire him

The things you know best are: first, those you know intuitively; second, those you've learned from experience; third, those you've learned not from but through books and the ideas they've inspired in you; and finally, those you've learned in books and from your teachers.

There are more fools than wise men, and even in a wise man there is more folly than wisdom.

There are well-dressed foolish ideas, just as there are will-dressed fools.

Whoever is not a misanthrope at forty can never have loved mankind.

In order not to find life unbearable, you must accept two things: the ravages of time and the injustices of man.

Every day I add to the list of things I refuse to discuss. The wiser the man, the longer the list.

Public opinion reigns in society because stupidity reigns amongst the stupid.

It is passion that makes man live; wisdom makes one only last.

Having lots of ideas doesn't mean you're clever, any more than having lots of soldiers means you're a good general.

If we would please in society, we must be prepared to be taught many things we know already by people who do not know them.

The moment when one loses the illusions and passions of youth often leaves regrets, but sometimes we hate the spell that deceived us. So it is that Armida burns and razes the palace where she was enchanted.

On n'est point un homme d'esprit pour avoir beaucoup d'idées, comme on n'est pas un bon général pour avoir beaucoup de soldats.

C'est une belle allégorie, dans la Bible, que cet arbre de la science du bien et du mal qui produit la mort. Cet emblème ne veut-il pas dire que lorsqu'on a pénétré le fond des choses, la pert des illusions amène la mort de l'âme, c'est-à-dire un désintéressement complet sur tout ce qui touches les autres hommes?

We must know how to perform the foolishness our characters require.

To select well among old things is almost equal to inventing new ones.