Quotes About Wisdom

Do not say of anything "I have lost it," but rather, "I have given it back.

If you act rashly, without regard to consequences, you may defeat your purposes.

Do you think freedom is something good?' 'The greatest good of all.' 'Can anyone in possession of the greatest good be unhappy or unfortunate?' 'No.

What's odd in asserting that what's bad for anything is what runs contrary to its nature? You say it for everything else, why make humanity the sole exception?

Jos joku kertoo sinulle, että se ja se panettelee sinua, älä ryhdy puolustautumaan panetteluja vastaan, vaan sano: Hän ei nähtävästi tiennyt muita vikojani, sillä muutoin hän ei olisi tyytynyt mainitsemaan vain noita.

that rational animals can hold off acting on impressions until they are scrutinized and assessed; and (2) if they are judged unreasonable – i.e. irrational or merely impractical – we can and should withhold our assent from them.

So when someone assents to a false proposition, be sure that they did not want to give their assent, since, as Plato says, 'Every soul is deprived of the truth against its will.'47 [5] They simply mistook for true something false.

Wisdom is a large and spacious thing. It needs plenty of free room. One must learn about things divine and human, the past and the future, the ephemeral and the eternal; and one must learn about Time.

But the wise man knows that all things are in store for him. Whatever happens, he says: I knew it.

Are the Trojans wise or foolish? If they are wise, do not quarrel with them; if they are fools, ignore them.

In every situation, consider what precedes it and what may follow—then act. If you act rashly, without regard to consequences, you may defeat your purposes.

Speak only what is useful and beneficial.

Furthermore the true Cynic must know that he is sent as a Messenger from God to men, to show unto them that as touching good and evil they are in error; looking for these where they are not to be found, nor ever bethinking themselves where they are.

Whenever someone helps or hinders you, or praises or criticizes you, remember that they see you only through the lens of their own impressions. If they act or speak from a warped perspective, they hurt themselves—not you. For if someone mistakes truth for falsehood, the truth is not harmed, but only the person deceived. Keeping this in mind, gently turn away any insult or injury. "It seems right to them, though they are mistaken.

Show them where they go wrong and you will find that they'll reform. But unless they see it, they are stuck with nothing better than their usual opinion as their practical guide.

ask yourself how Socrates or Zeno

the ability to make good use of impressions

Make the best use of what is in our power, and treat the rest in accordance with its nature. And what is its nature? However God decides.

Will the wise man refuse to engage with such a person, and avoid all dialogue and examination? [26] But of all people he is supposed to be most adept in argument, expert in question and answer, and proof against sophisms and deceit. [27] Or will he engage with him but without caring whether he argues in a confused or careless manner? In that case how then will he be the sort of man we imagine him to be?

If you learn that someone is speaking ill of you, don't try to defend yourself against the rumours; respond instead with, 'Yes, and he doesn't know the half of it, because he could have said more

Freedom is not achieved by satisfying desire, but by eliminating it.

but we should rather believe the philosophers who say that the educated only are free. How is this? In this manner: Is freedom anything else than the power of living as we choose? Nothing else.

For what else are tragedies but the ordeals of people who have come to value externals, tricked out in tragic verse?

But they have produced such wonderful fruit in a human mind, as part of their plan to bestow on humanity the true secret of happiness.