Being Wise!

Sayings about Wisdom


I associate wisdom and grace with age. ~ Christy Turlington

Gray hairs are signs of wisdom if you hold your tongue, speak and they are but hairs, as in the young. ~ Philo

The beginning of wisdom is the knowledge of folly. ~ Norman Macdonald

When wisdom leaves the house folly enters it. ~ Edward Counsel

A wise man fights to win, but he is twice a fool who has no plan for possible defeat. ~ Louis L'Amour

Wisdom grows in quiet places. ~ Austin O’Malley

Wisdom comes to us when it can no longer do any good. ~ Gabriel Garcia Marquez

A wise man may look ridiculous in the company of fools. ~ Thomas Fuller

Wisdom no more consists in science than happiness in wealth. ~ Marquis Stanislas Jean de Boufflers

Like water in the desert is wisdom to the soul. ~ Edward Counsel

I look forward to growing old and wise and audacious. ~ Glenda Jackson

Wisdom comes only through suffering. ~ Aeschylus

Pain makes man think. Thought makes man wise. Wisdom makes life endurable. ~ John Patrick

A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth the first time he bites off more than he can chew. ~ Herb Caen

Wisdom is a treasure, the key whereof is never lost. ~ Edward Counsel

He that walks with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. ~ Bible

Wisdom consists not no much in seeing as in foreseeing. ~ Hosea Ballou

Now that I am sixty, I see why the idea of elder wisdom has passed from currency. ~ John Updike

Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven which is inspired by the smell of carrion? ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Learned men fall into error oftenest by mistaking knowledge for wisdom. ~ Austin O’Malley

Common-sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom. ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The wisdom of age: don't stop walking. ~ Mason Cooley

I'm very accepting with my age. It's like notches on your belt: experience, wisdom, and a different kind of beauty. There comes a day when you've become comfortable in your skin. ~ Zoe Saldana

We judge of man’s wisdom by his hope. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The growth of wisdom may be gauged exactly by the diminution of ill temper. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Cunning is seeing a hundred yards ahead–wisdom, fifty miles in advance. ~ Charles William Day

Wisdom begins at the end. ~ Daniel Webster

All wisdom ends in paradox. ~ Jeffrey Eugenides

There is this difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man is really so; but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool. ~ Francis Bacon

No wise man ever wished to be younger. ~ Jonathan Swift

Mixing one’s wines may be a mistake, but old and new wisdom mix admirably. ~ Bertolt Brecht

The latter part of a wise person's life is occupied with curing the follies, prejudices and false opinions they contracted earlier. ~ Jonathan Swift

The person of wisdom is the person of years. ~ Author Unknown

Wisdom is never on the menu, you have to own the restaurant. ~ Carrie Latet

If wisdom were on sale in the open market, the stupid would not even ask the price. ~ Author Unknown

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk. ~ Doug Larson

Much of the wisdom of one age, is the folly of the next. ~ Charles Simmons

The next thing to having wisdom ourselves is to profit by that of others. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Wisdom’s door is ever open. ~ Edward Counsel

Wisdom sails with wind and time. ~ John Florio

Wisdom is the daughter of experience. ~ Leonardo Da Vinci

He that is not handsome at 20, nor strong at 30, nor rich at 40, nor wise at 50, will never be handsome, strong, rich or wise. ~ George Herbert

A wise man learns more from his enemies than a fool from his friends. ~ Baltasar Gracian

There are many gates to the house of wisdom. ~ Edward Counsel

Some folks are wise and some are otherwise. ~ Tobias Smollett

Wisdom hath her excesses, and no less need of moderation than folly. ~ Michel Eyquem De Montaigne

Wisdom outweighs any wealth. ~ Sophocles

Wisdom, Age, Direction The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages is preserved into perpetuity by a nation's proverbs, fables, folk sayings and quotations. ~ William Feather

[A] youthful old age is the rich and mellow autumn of life... the mind is ripe in wisdom... the intellect is still active and vigorous... spiritual character has reached its full terrestrial maturity of virtue. ~ W.J. Hunter

Never, no, never did Nature say one thing and Wisdom say another. ~ Edmund Burke

In growing old, we become more foolish and more wise. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld

At 20 years of age the will reigns; at 30 the wit; at 40 the judgment. ~ Benjamin Franklin

The wise man knows nothing if he cannot benefit from his wisdom. Wisdom is not only to be acquired, but also to be utilized. ~ Marcus T. Cicero

Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification. ~ Martin H. Fischer

A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top. ~ Author Unknown

The wise man says it cannot be done, but the fool goes and does it. ~ Author Unknown

Learning sleeps and snores in libraries, but wisdom is everywhere, wide awake, on tiptoe. ~ Josh Billings

A simple realization that there are other points of view is the beginning of wisdom. ~ Grenville Kleiser

Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late. ~ Felix Frankfurter

Memory is the mother of all wisdom. ~ Aeschylus

What the tech industry often forgets is that with age comes wisdom. Older workers are usually better at following direction, mentoring, and leading. ~ Vivek Wadhwa

To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living. ~ Henri Frederic Amiel

Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson

A man remains ignorant because he loves ignorance, and chooses ignorant thoughts; a man becomes wise because he loves wisdom and chooses wise thoughts. ~ James Allen

Each of us knows all. We need only open our minds to hear our own wisdom. ~ Dan Brown

Age does not bring you wisdom, age brings you wrinkles. ~ Estelle Getty

Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences. ~ Norman Cousins

The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages may be preserved by quotation. ~ Isaac D’Israeli,

To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The wealth of mankind is the wisdom they leave. ~ John Boyle O’Reilly

There is wisdom of the head, and … there is wisdom of the heart. ~ Charles Dickens

Everyone whose deeds are more than his wisdom, his wisdom endures; and everyone whose wisdom is more than his deeds, his wisdom does not endure. ~ The Talmud

Wisdom is understanding when to ask questions. ~ Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson

The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom. ~ H.L. Mencken

They're not gray hairs. They're wisdom highlights. ~ Author unknown

No man has all the wisdom in the world; everyone has some. ~ Edgar Watson Howe

Wisdom is wisdom, wherever found. ~ G. David Nordley

Life, Work, Time Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. ~ Epicurus

Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit. ~ Elbert Hubbard

Morality comes with the sad wisdom of age, when the sense of curiosity has withered. ~ Graham Greene

Knowledge is flour, but wisdom is bread. ~ Austin O’Malley

Justice without wisdom is impossible. ~ James Anthony Froude

I am this day forty-three years old: as years increase, may I grow more wise and gracious. ~ Hannah Ball

Wisdom is often counted folly by the unwise. ~ Edward Counsel

Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it. ~ David Star Jordan

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens. ~ Jimi Hendrix

As one grows older, one becomes wiser and more foolish. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Half a man’s wisdom goes with his courage. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Age is a terrible avenger. The lessons of life give you so much to work with, but by the time you've got all this great wisdom, you don't get to be young anymore. ~ Elizabeth Wurtzel

The doors of wisdom are never shut. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Was not this … what we spoke of as the great advantage of wisdom — to know what is known and what is unknown to us? ~ Plato

Wisdom always makes men fortunate: for by wisdom no man could ever err, and therefore he must act rightly and succeed, or his wisdom would be wisdom no longer. ~ Plato

Be wise with speed; a fool at forty is a fool indeed. ~ Edward Young

Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself. ~ Tom Wilson

With age comes a greater wisdom, an ease and comfort with oneself. Cherie Lunghi Wisdom, Age, Oneself the older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom. ~ H. L. Mencken

He dares to be a fool, and that is the first step in the direction of wisdom. ~ James Gibbons Huneker

Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. ~ Octavio Paz

Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another. ~ Juvenal, Satires

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool... ~ William Shakespeare

How earthy old people become -- moldy as the grave! Their wisdom smacks of the earth. There is no foretaste of immortality in it. They remind me of earthworms and mole crickets. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Patience is the companion of wisdom. ~ St. Augustine

The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are perpetuated by quotations. ~ Benjamin Disraeli

Wisdom is mostly the fruit of experience. ~ Edward Counsel

What we call wisdom is the result of all the wisdom of past ages. Our best institutions are like young trees growing upon the roots of the old trunks that have crumbled away. ~ Henry Ward Beecher

I actually think with age comes some level of wisdom. ~ Nina Totenberg

We all grow up. Hopefully, we get wiser. Age brings wisdom, and fatherhood changes one's life completely. ~ Frank Abagnale

The mind that is wise mourns less for what age takes away; than what it leaves behind. ~ William Wordsworth

The wise man questions the wisdom of others because he questions his own, the foolish man, because it is different from his own. ~ Leo Stein

It takes a wise man to handle a lie; a fool had better remain honest. ~ Norman Douglas

Wisdom is only found in truth. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The mistakes of the fool are known to the world, but not to himself. The mistakes of the wise man are known to himself, but not to the world. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Those who improve with age embrace the power of personal growth and personal achievement and begin to replace youth with wisdom, innocence with understanding, and lack of purpose with self-actualization.~ Bo Bennett

It’s a beautiful thing, the blossoming of Wisdom. Like a flower in spring. ~ Michael Rudd

Travel makes a wise man better, and a fool worse. ~ Thomas Fuller

Wisdom consists in being able to distinguish among dangers and make a choice of the least harmful. ~ Niccolo Machiavelli

It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: The music is nothing if the audience is deaf. ~ Walter Lippmann

Few things are necessary to make the wise man happy while no amount of material wealth would satisfy a fool. ~ Og Mandino

Not by age but by capacity is wisdom acquired. ~ Plautus

Wisdom is a safe ship; and we may trust ourselves to it in all weathers. ~ Edward Counsel

Seven Pillars of Wisdom. ~ Book preview