Quotes About Wisdom

For humans it is not at all possible to have the best thing of all or to have any share of the best nature—since the best thing for all men and women is not to be born. But the second best thing after this and the first available to mortals, is to die as soon as possible after being born." It is clear that he said this because the way that exists in death is better than the one in life.

Remember what Simonides said, that he never repented that he had held his tongue, but often that he had spoken.

it is useful, or rather it is necessary, not to be indifferent about acquiring the works of earlier writers, but to make a collection of these, like a set of tools in farming. For the corresponding tool of education is the use of books, and by their means it has come to pass that we are able to study knowledge at its source.

Another Spartan, when he saw men sitting on stools in a lavatory, declared: "May I never sit where it is impossible for me to get up and offer my seat to an older man.

he would yet do full well to wait for that wisest of all counsellors, Time.

The art of wise administration consist in making certain concessions and granting that which will please the people, while demanding in return an obedience and cooperation which will benefit the whole community. p235-236

For it may happen to the commonwealth, as to the serpent in the fable, whose tail, rising in rebellion against the head, complained, as of a great grievance, that it was always forced to follow, and required that it should be permitted by turns to lead the way. And taking the command accordingly, it soon inflicted , by its senseless courses, mischiefs in abundance upon itself, while the head was torn and lacerated with following, contrary to nature, a guide that was deaf and blind.

Apollo], whose oracle is in Delphi, neither speaks nor suppresses, but indicates.

When therefore we once begin so to love good men, as not only (according to Plato) to esteem the wise man himself happy, and him who hears his discourses sharer in his felicity, but also to admire and love his habit, gait, look, and very smile, so as to wish ourselves to be that very person, then we may be assured that we have made very good proficiency.

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.

Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.

To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future.

Books delight to the very marrow of one's bones. They speak to us, consult with us, and join with us in a living and intense intimacy.

To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all our days

Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.

Courage stands halfway between cowardice and rashness, one of which is a lack, the other an excess of courage.

Barba non facit philosophum

Breathing is key to accessing the unconscious neural code that controls us. "As the breath moves, so does the mind" is ancient Indian wisdom. We can add to that, "and the body.

When you act, you learn. That kind of wisdom beats the knowledge you read in a book, every time. To really seek answers, you need to act. To really develop your mind, run more experiments.

but happiness is like this, not handed out by the bucket from your television set but measured from a thimble by a stingy but wise old God and so we savored it

Perdí años hasta llegar a entender que la vida no se vive en borrador y después se pasa, prolija y sin faltas de ortografía, al cuaderno de clase.

Everything that happens to you is your teacher. The secret is to learn to sit at the feet of your own life and be taught by it. Polly B. Berends

We read a lot of books. Children's books mostly, because they're always much more truthful than adult books. And much more entertaining," said Mrs. Bunny.

It's better to be fooled a hundred times than never to look.