Wise Quotes:

Therefore, since the world has still Much good, but much less good than ill, And while the sun and moon endure Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure, I'd face it as a wise man would, And train for ill and not for good.

- A. E. Housman

source: A. E. Housman (2012). “A Shropshire Lad”, p.43, Courier Corporation

topic: Wise, Moon, Men

When I was one-and-twenty I heard a wise man say, `Give crowns and pounds and guineas But not your heart away; Give pearls away and rubies But keep your fancy free.' But I was one-and-twenty No use to talk to me. When I was one-and-twenty I heard him say again, `The heart out of the bosom Was never given in vain; 'Tis paid with sighs a plenty And sold for endless rue.' And I am two-and-twenty And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

- A. E. Housman

topic: Wise, Heart, Men, Rue

It comes back to the old question: How can the Bible be so wise in some places and so barbaric in others? And why should we put any faith in a book that includes such brutality?

- A. J. Jacobs

source: A. J. Jacobs (2011). “A.J. Jacobs Omnibus: The Know-It-All, The Year of Living Biblically, My Life as an Experiment”, p.707, Simon and Schuster

topic: Wise, Book, Brutality

I love it when the Bible gives Emily Post-like tips that are both wise and easy to follow.

- A. J. Jacobs

topic: Wise, Giving, Easy

Walking is the favorite sport of the good and wise.

- A. L. Rowse

topic: Sports, Wise, Favorite Sports

I am shy to admit that I have followed the advice given all those years ago by a wise archbishop to a bewildered young man: that moments of unbelief 'don't matter,' that if you return to a practice of the faith, faith will return.

- A. N. Wilson

topic: Wise, Men, Years

The wise say that our failure is to form habits: for habit is the mark of a stereotyped world,

- A.C. Grayling

topic: Wise, World, Habit

Collect as precious pearls the words of the wise and virtuous.

- Abdelkader El Djezairi

topic: Wise, Learning, Growth, Personal Growth And Development, Personal Influence

Our lives pass from us like the wind, and why Should wise men grieve to know that they must die? The Judas blossom fades, the lovely face Of light is dimmed, and darkness takes its place.

- Abolqasem Ferdowsi

source: Abolqasem Ferdowsi (2016). “Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings”, p.58, Penguin

topic: Wise, Men, Grieving, Lovely Face

Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise, He who defers this work from day to day, Does on a river's bank expecting stay, Till the whole stream, which stopped him, should be gone, That runs, and as it runs, for ever will run on.

- Abraham Cowley

topic: Wise, Running, Time

Ah, yet, e'er I descend to th' grave, May I a small House and a large Garden have. And a few Friends, and many Books both true, Both wise, and both delightful too. And since Love ne'er will from me flee, A mistress moderately fair, And good as Guardian angels are, Only belov'd and loving me.

- Abraham Cowley

topic: Wise, Book, Angel, Loving Me

Curs'd be that wretch (Death's factor sure) who brought Dire swords into the peaceful world, and taught Smiths (who before could only make The spade, the plough-share, and the rake) Arts, in most cruel wise Man's left to epitomize!

- Abraham Cowley

topic: Wise, Art, Men, Spades

Wise criticism always begins with self-criticism.

- Abraham Joshua Heschel

topic: Wise, Self, Criticism, Self Criticism

It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words, "And this too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!

- Abraham Lincoln

topic: Life, Wise, Patience, This Too Shall Pass

I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.

- Abraham Lincoln

topic: Motivational, Wise, Men

Law is nothing else but the best reason of wise men applied for ages to the transactions and business of mankind.

- Abraham Lincoln

topic: Wise, Men, Law, Transactions

We need not take refuge in supernatural gods to explain our saints and sages and heroes and statesmen, as if to explain our disbelief that mere unaided human beings could be that good or wise.

- Abraham Maslow

topic: Wise, Hero, Saint

The Bible is proved to be a revelation from God, by the reasonableness and holiness of its precepts; all its commands, exhortations, and promises having the most direct tendency to make men wise, holy, and happy in themselves, and useful to one another.

- Adam Clarke

source: Adam Clarke (1820). “Clavis Biblica; or, a Compendium of Scriptural Knowledge; containing a general view of the contents of the Old and New Testaments ... originally drawn up for the instruction of Two Teerunanxies, or High Priests of Budhoo, from the Island of Ceylon”, p.48

topic: Wise, Men, Promise, Reasonableness

Where we are from... [s]tories are factual. If a farmer is declared a music virtuoso by the state, everyone had better start calling him maestro. And secretly, he'd be wise to start practicing the piano. For us, the story is more important than the person. If a man and his story are in conflict, it is the man who must change.

- Adam Johnson

topic: Wise, Men, Piano, Factual, Maestro

To be free from bondage the wise person must practise discrimination between One-Self and the ego-self. By that alone you will become full of joy, recognising Self as Pure Being, Consciousness and Bliss.

- Adi Shankara

topic: Wise, Self, Meditation, Practise, Wise Person

For there is one thing we must never forget... the majority can never replace the man. And no more than a hundred empty heads make one wise man will an heroic decision arise from a hundred cowards.

- Adolf Hitler

topic: Wise, Military, Men, Empty Heads

The Wise County Bookmobile is one of the most beautiful sights in the world to me. When I see it lumbering down the mountain road like a tank . . . I flag it down like an old friend. I've waited on this corner every Friday since I can remember. The Bookmobile is just a government truck, but to me it's a glittering royal coach delivering stories and knowledge and life itself. I even love the smell of books. People have often told me that one of their strongest childhood memories is the scent of their grandmother's house. I never knew my grandmothers, but I could always count on the Bookmobile.

- Adriana Trigiani

topic: Beautiful, Wise, Friday, Beautiful Sights

It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.

- Aeschylus

topic: Wise, Stupid, Inspiration

Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

- Aesop

source: Aesop, Thomas James (1872). “Aesop's Fables: A New Version, Chiefly from Original Sources”, p.36

topic: Inspirational, Motivational, Wise, Suicidal Thoughts, Learning From Mistakes

If you are wise you won't be deceived by the innocent airs of those whom you have once found to be dangerous.

- Aesop

topic: Wise, Air, Innocent

Dogs are wise. They crawl away into a quiet corner and lick their wounds and do not rejoin the world until they are whole once more.

- Agatha Christie

topic: Wise, Wisdom, Dog, Man And Dog, Crawling

To be brave in misfortune is to be worthy of manhood; to be wise in misfortune is to conquer fate.

- Agnes Repplier

topic: Wise, Fate, Brave

Wise leaders should have known that the human heart cannot exist in a vacuum. If Christians are forbidden to enjoy the wine of the Spirit they will turn to the wine of the flesh....Christ died for our hearts and the Holy Spirit wants to come and satisfy them.

- Aiden Wilson Tozer

topic: Christian, Wise, Heart, Wise Leaders, Should Have Known

We might be wise to follow the insight of the enraptured heart rather than the more cautious reasoning of the theological mind.

- Aiden Wilson Tozer

topic: Wise, Heart, Mind

and I get refill number three or four and the wine is making my bones loose and it's giving my hair a red sheen and my breasts are blooming and my eyes feel sultry and wise and the dress is water.

- Aimee Bender

source: Aimee Bender (2009). “Willful Creatures”, p.31, Anchor

topic: Wise, Wine, Eye, Refills, Number Three

Everyone makes mistakes. The wise are not people who never make mistakes, but those who forgive themselves and learn from their mistakes.

- Ajahn Brahm

topic: Wise, Mistake, Learning, Forgive Yourself, Learning From Mistakes

These days people don't search for the Truth. People study simply in order to find knowledge necessary to make a living, raise families and look after themselves, that's all. To them, being smart is more important than being wise!

- Ajahn Chah

topic: Wise, Smart, Order

Those who gave thee a body, furnished it with weakness; but He who gave thee Soul, armed thee with resolution. Employ it, and thou art wise; be wise and thou art happy.

- Akhenaton

topic: Wise, New Year, Art, Happy New Year Eve, New Year's Resolutions

True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance.

- Akhenaton

topic: Wise, Ignorance, Men, Obstinate, True Wisdom

The lips of the wise are as the doors of a cabinet; no sooner are they opened, but treasures are poured out before thee.

- Akhenaton

topic: Wise, Doors, Treasure

Give a drink of water as alms to the birds which go forth at morning, and deem that they have a better right than men [to thy charity]. For their race brings not harm upon thee in any wise, when thou fearest it from thine own race.

- Al-Maʿarri

topic: Wise, Morning, Men

Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart.

- Alan Alda

source: Alan Alda's commencement speech at Connecticut College in New London, www.graduationwisdom.com. 1980.

topic: Wise, Wisdom, Smart, Being Smart

It's better to be wise than to be smart.

- Alan Alda

topic: Wise, Smart, Being Wise

The printing presses of the state treasuries cranked out reams of paper currency- showing wise kinds and blissful martyrs- while bankers wept and peasants starved.

- Alan Furst

topic: Wise, Bankers, Paper

Scratch the surface in a typical boardroom and we're all just cavemen with briefcases, hungry for a wise person to tell us stories.

- Alan Kay

topic: Wise, Typical, Cavemen, Wise Person, Briefcases

Who knows for what we live, and struggle, and die?... Wise men write many books, in words too hard to understand. But this, the purpose of our lives, the end of all our struggle, is beyond all human wisdom.

- Alan Paton

source: Alan Paton (2003). “Cry, the Beloved Country”, p.57, Simon and Schuster

topic: Life, Wise, Struggle, Human Wisdom

The agnostic, the skeptic, is neurotic, but this does not imply a false philosophy; it implies the discovery of facts to which he does not know how to adapt himself. The intellectual who tries to escape from neurosis by escaping from the facts is merely acting on the principle that “where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.

- Alan Watts

topic: Wise, Philosophy, Ignorance, Ignorance Is Bliss

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

- Albert Einstein

topic: Inspirational, Funny, Wise, Solved Problems, Stupidity And Intelligence

A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.

- Albert Einstein

topic: Inspirational, Wise, Spiritual, Solved Problems, Avoidance

I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking

- Albert Einstein

topic: Inspirational, Wise, Spiritual, Rational Thinking, Rational Thought

To get to know a country, you must have direct contact with the earth. It's futile to gaze at the world through a car window.

- Albert Einstein

topic: Wise, Country, Travel

Truth is what stands the test of experience.

- Albert Einstein

topic: Wise, Funny Inspirational, Truth

All our thoughts and concepts are called up by sense-experiences and have a meaning only in reference to these sense-experiences. On the other hand, however, they are products of the spontaneous activity of our minds; they are thus in no wise logical consequences of the contents of these sense-experiences. If, therefore, we wish to grasp the essence of a complex of abstract notions we must for the one part investigate the mutual relationships between the concepts and the assertions made about them; for the other, we must investigate how they are related to the experiences.

- Albert Einstein

topic: Wise, Hope, Wisdom

The trouble with most therapy is that it helps you feel better. But you don't get better. You have to back it up with action, action, action.

- Albert Ellis

topic: Wise, Feel Better, Get Better

By not caring too much about what people think, I'm able to think for myself and propagate ideas which are very often unpopular. And I succeed.

- Albert Ellis

topic: Wise, Bullying, Kids, Importunate, Caring Too Much

Neurosis is just a high-class word for whining.

- Albert Ellis

topic: Wise, Class, Neurosis, High Class

If you agree with me that a poem can be as bountiful as a rich Victorian narrative, and as wise... then you'll want to join me here in the Wow, I Like No Need of Sympathy Club. Your membership fee is the same as your membership privileges: this book.

- Albert Goldbarth

topic: Wise, Book, Needs, Victorian

The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.

- Albert Schweitzer

topic: Inspirational, Life, Wise, Personal Tragedy, Great Tragedy

An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight... the truly wise person is colorblind.

- Albert Schweitzer

topic: Wise, Wisdom, Attitude, Optimistic Person, Optimists And Pessimists

He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same words: "Follow thou me!" and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.

- Albert Schweitzer

topic: Wise, Time, Simple, Ineffable

I'm doing great heart-wise. I get a complete stress test once a year, and those have gone well. I have stents in two arteries, and they are holding up. My other arteries haven't shown any additional clogging.

- Alberto Salazar

source: Interview with Amby Burfoot, www.runnersworld.com. April 5, 2012.

topic: Wise, Stress, Heart, Clogging, Arteries

You want to run out in front, prepare to be tripped from behind.

- Albie Sachs

topic: Wise, Running, Want

At Athens, wise men propose, and fools dispose.

- Alcuin

topic: Wise, Men, Athens, Smart People, Athenians

The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.

- Alden Nowlan

topic: Forgiveness, Wise, Wisdom, Live And Learn, Becoming An Adult

I have always found that Angels have the vanity to speak of themselves as the only wise.

- Aldous Huxley

topic: Wise, Angel, Vanity

To be excited and at the same time satisfied; to desire and possess -that has been described somewhere as the wise man's idea of heaven.

- Alec Waugh

topic: Wise, Men, Ideas

The sot drinks, and is drunken: the coward drinks not, and shivers: the wise man, brave and free, drinks, and gives glory to the Most High God.

- Aleister Crowley

topic: Wise, Men, Giving

One becomes wise only in measures, as he goes through his own insanity.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

source: Alejandro Jodorowsky (2010). “Psychomagic: The Transformative Power of Shamanic Psychotherapy”, p.35, Inner Traditions / Bear & Co

topic: Wise, Insanity

We are all fools blessed with the knowledge that certain events will come to pass no matter what path we take to get there. The wise ones follow their angels while they may.

- Alethea Kontis

source: Alethea Kontis (2012). “Enchanted”, p.243, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

topic: Wise, Blessed, Angel

We share a lot in common, attitude wise.

- Alex Riley

topic: Wise, Attitude, Wwe

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and for thy possession, the ends of the earth. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces, like a potters vessel. Be wise now therefore, ye kings. Be admonished, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way, though his wrath be kindled but a little.

- Alexander Anderson

topic: Wise, Kings, Son

Good and wise men, in all ages, have embraced a very dissimilar theory. They have supposed that the deity, from the relations we stand in to himself and to each other, has constituted an eternal and immutable law, which is indispensably obligatory upon all mankind, prior to any human institution whatever. This is what is called the law of nature....Upon this law depend the natural rights of mankind.

- Alexander Hamilton

topic: Wise, Men, Rights, Laws Of Nature

I will venture to assert that no combination of designing men under heaven will be capable of making a government unpopular which is in its principles a wise and good one, and vigorous in its operations.

- Alexander Hamilton

topic: Wise, Men, Heaven

The history of human conduct does not warrant that exalted opinion of human virtue which would make it wise in a nation to commit interests of so delicate and momentous a kind as those which concern its intercourse with the rest of the world, to the sole disposal of a magistrate, created and circumstanced, as would be a president of the United States.

- Alexander Hamilton

topic: Wise, President, United States, Magistrates

Freedom is always wise.

- Alexander Meiklejohn

topic: Wise, Congress

Whatever may be the immediate gains and losses, the dangers to our safety arising from political suppression are always greater than the dangers to that safety arising from political freedom. Suppression is always foolish. Freedom is always wise. That is the faith, the experimental faith, by which we Americans have undertaken to live.

- Alexander Meiklejohn

topic: Wise, Loss, Safety, Gains And Losses

My editor and I remain very disciplined. It's just sometimes when you're making a film, you get into the cutting room and you see a scene that's slowing you down in a certain section, but if you remove that scene then, emotionally or story-wise, another scene a half-hour later won't have the same impact. You just get stuck with it.

- Alexander Payne

topic: Wise, Cutting, Impact

Many men have been capable of doing a wise thing, more a cunning thing, but very few a generous thing.

- Alexander Pope

topic: Wise, Honesty, Women, Being Generous

Unthought-of Frailties cheat us in the Wise.

- Alexander Pope

topic: Wise, Cheat, Frailty

Fear not the anger of the wise to raise; Those best can bear reproof who merit praise.

- Alexander Pope

topic: Wise, Bears, Merit, Reproof

Who finds not Providence all good and wise, Alike in what it gives, and what denies.

- Alexander Pope

topic: Wise, Giving, Deny

What is it to be wise? 'Tis but to know how little can be known, To see all others' faults, and feel our own.

- Alexander Pope

source: Alexander Pope (1850*). “The works of Alexander Pope. With notes by dr. Warburton”, p.123

topic: Wise, Wisdom, Littles, Wise Wisdom

What so pure, which envious tongues will spare? Some wicked wits have libell'd all the fair, With matchless impudence they style a wife, The dear-bought curse, and lawful plague of life; A bosom serpent, a domestic evil, A night invasion, and a mid-day devil; Let not the wise these sland'rous words regard, But curse the bones of ev'ry living bard.

- Alexander Pope

topic: Wise, Night, Evil, Impudence, Bards

To swear is neither brave, polite, nor wise.

- Alexander Pope

topic: Wise, Brave, Profanity

Tis from high Life high Characters are drawn; A Saint in Crape is twice a Saint in Lawn: A Judge is just, a Chanc'llor juster still; A Gownman learn'd; a Bishop what you will; Wise if a minister; but if a King, More wise, more learn'd, more just, more ev'rything.

- Alexander Pope

topic: Wise, Kings, Character

Mark what unvary'd laws preserve each state, Laws wise as Nature, and as fixed as Fate.

- Alexander Pope

topic: Wise, Fate, Law

Coffee which makes the politician wise, and see through all things with his half-shut eyes.

- Alexander Pope

topic: Wise, Coffee, Eye, Drinking Coffee, Funny Coffee

For lo! the board with cups and spoons is crowned.The berries crackle, and the mill turns round ... At once they gratify their scent and taste.And frequent cups prolong the rich repast... Coffee (which makes the politician wise And see through all things with his half-shut eyes).

- Alexander Pope

topic: Wise, Coffee, Eye

But if you'll prosper, mark what I advise, Whom age, and long experience render wise.

- Alexander Pope

topic: Wise, Long, Age

A wise physician, skill'd our wounds to heal, is more than armies to the public weal.

- Alexander Pope

topic: Wise, Army, Skills

The dead keep their secrets, and in a while we shall be as wise as they - and as taciturn.

- Alexander Smith

topic: Wise, Keeping Secrets, Secret, Taciturn

You must be wise, but not too wise.

- Alexander Turney Stewart

topic: Wise, Being Wise

You will deal with ignorant, opinionated and innocent people. You will often have an opportunity to cheat them. If they could, they would cheat you, or force you to sell at less than cost. You must be wise, but not too wise. You must never actually cheat the customer, even if you can. You must make her happy and satisfied, so she will come back.

- Alexander Turney Stewart

topic: Wise, Opportunity, People

The wise expect nothing, hope for nothing, thus avoiding all disappointment and anxiety.

- Alexandra David-Neel

topic: Wise, Disappointment, Expectations

It is indeed difficult to imagine how men who have entirely renounced the habit of managing their own affairs could be successful in choosing those who ought to lead them. It is impossible to believe that a liberal, energetic, and wise government can ever emerge from the ballots of a nation of servants.

- Alexis de Tocqueville

topic: Wise, Believe, Successful

The finest piece of mechanism in all the universe is the brain of man. The wise person develops his brain, and opens his mind to the genius and spirit of the world's great ideas. He will feel inspired with the purest and noblest thoughts that have ever animated the spirit of humanity.

- Alfred Armand Montapert

topic: Wise, Men, Ideas, Wise Person

the shell must break before the bird can fly.

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

source: Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Illustrated)”, p.2450, Delphi Classics

topic: Wise, Motivation, Inspiration

Who is wise in love, love most, say least.

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

topic: Love, Wise

Tis held that sorrow makes us wise.

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

topic: Wise, Sorrow

The Wise are silent, the Foolish speak, and children are thus led astray.

- Algernon Blackwood

source: "The Bright Messenger: Blackwood Collections".

topic: Wise, Children, Speak, Entanglement

[A]ll popular and well-mixed governments [republics] . . . are ever established by wise and good men, and can never be upheld otherwise than by virtue: The worst men always conspiring against them, they must fall, if the best have not power to preserve them. . . . [and] unless they be preserved in a great measure free from vices . . . .

- Algernon Sidney

topic: Wise, Fall, Men, Conspiring

Machiavel, discoursing on these matters, finds virtue to be so essentially necessary to the establishment and preservation of liberty, that he thinks it impossible for a corrupted people to set up a good government, or for a tyranny to be introduced if they be virtuous; and makes this conclusion, 'That where the matter (that is, the body of the people) is not corrupted, tumults and disorders do not hurt; and where it is corrupted, good laws do no good:' which being confirmed by reason and experience, I think no wise man has ever contradicted him.

- Algernon Sidney

source: Algernon Sidney (1805). “Discourses on Government”, p.83

topic: Wise, Hurt, Men

When proven wrong, the wise man will correct himself and the ignorant will keep arguing.

- Ali ibn Abi Talib

topic: Wise, Men, Ignorant, Islamic Wisdom, Proven Wrong

It is better to listen to a wise enemy than to seek counsel from a foolish friend.

- Ali ibn Abi Talib

topic: Wise, Enemy, Foolish, Wise Counsel, Wise Women

A wise man first thinks and then speaks and a fool speaks first and then thinks.

- Ali ibn Abi Talib

topic: Wise, Wisdom, Thinking

People have sought to adjust the truth to the hour instead of adjusting the hour to the truth, and in diplomacy they have endeavoured to bring about as much of the reality as they deem wise.

- Alice Bailey

source: Alice Bailey (1934). “A Treatise on White Magic: Or, The Way of the Disciple”, Lucis Pub

topic: Wise, Honesty, Reality

It is chilling to think that the same people who persecuted the wise women and men of Europe, its midwives and healers, then crossed the oceans to Africa and the Americas and tortured and enslaved, raped, impoverished, and eradicated the peaceful, Christ-like people they found. And that the blueprint from which they worked, and still work, was the Bible.

- Alice Walker

topic: Wise, Ocean, Men, Healer, Christ Like

I had assumed that the Earth, the spirit of the Earth, noticed exceptions-those who wantonly damage it and those who do not. But the Earth is wise. It has given itself into the keeping of all, and all are therefore accountable.

- Alice Walker

topic: Wise, Earth Day, Damage, World Earth Day

If you want to be a wise person, you need a Bible.

- Alistair Begg

topic: Wise, Needs, Want, Wise Person

Fathers and mothers have lost the idea that the highest aspiration they might have for their children is for them to be wise... specialized competence and success are all that they can imagine.

- Allan Bloom

source: Allan Bloom (2008). “Closing of the American Mind”, p.58, Simon and Schuster

topic: Wise, Mother, Children

It was so rare to find someone who was both so young and so wise, both so fresh and so jaded.

- Ally Carter

topic: Wise, Young, Jaded

Someday you will know that the heart is not always as wise as it is strong. - Uncle Eddie

- Ally Carter

topic: Wise, Strong, Uncles, Uncle Eddie

Peron had a wise saying. In politics, you can recover from anything except looking like a fool.

- Alma Guillermoprieto

topic: Wise, Fool, Wise Sayings

Experience is the only prophecy of wise men.

- Alphonse de Lamartine

source: Alphonse de Lamartine (1854). “History of the French Revolution of 1848”, p.19

topic: Wise, Men, Prophecy

There is an old and very wise Native American saying: Every time you point a finger in scorn—there are three remaining fingers pointing right back at you.

- Alyson Noel

topic: Wise, Native American, Three, Very Wise, Pointing Fingers

I like jewellery because it's forever. Flowers die, chocolates get eaten and lingerie wears out in the wash. Plus, the girl is reminded of you every time she wears it. It's a wise move.

- Amanda Bynes

topic: Girl, Wise, Flower, Jewellery

I think you have to embrace being a role model because you are in the public eye, and whether you like it or not, people are going to be affected by you positively or negatively, ... Public-wise, I really wouldnt do anything that would be detrimental to anybody else or to myself. And to a certain extent, I try to watch out and try not to do anything that would be bad for kids to see.

- Amanda Bynes

topic: Wise, Kids, Eye, Public Eye, Being A Role Model

A foolish man thinks he knows everything. A wise man knows he doesn't," Finn replied absently, still looking down at the book. "That's such a fortune-cookie answer," I said with a laugh, and even he smirked at me.

- Amanda Hocking

topic: Wise, Book, Thinking, Foolish Man, Looking Down

A foolish man thinks he knows everything. A wise man knows he doesn't.

- Amanda Hocking

topic: Wise, Men, Thinking

It is easier to look wise than to talk wisely.

- Ambrose

topic: Wise, Wisdom, Looks

Education, n.: That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.

- Ambrose Bierce

topic: Education, Wise, Wisdom, Lack Of Understanding, Lack Of Education

NIRVANA- In the Buddhist religion, a state of pleasurable annihilation awarded to the wise, particularly to those wise enough to understand it.

- Ambrose Bierce

topic: Wise, Buddhist, Religion

He who thinks with difficulty believes with alacrity. A fool is a natural proselyte, but he must be caught young, for his convictions, unlike those of the wise, harden with age.

- Ambrose Bierce

topic: Wise, Believe, Thinking

One must be a wise reader to quote wisely and well.

- Amos Bronson Alcott

topic: Inspiring, Wise, Reader

One must be rich in thought and character to owe nothing to books, though preparation is necessary to profitable reading; and the less reading is better than more;--book-struck men are of all readers least wise, however knowing or learned.

- Amos Bronson Alcott

topic: Wise, Book, Reading, Book Lover

Love's for fools wise enough to take a chance.

- Amy Grant

topic: Wise, Fool, Chance, Cynical Love

Again I take a taxi to Clichy address, but feel that I do not want to go on loving Henry more actively than he loves me (having realized that nobody will ever love me in that overabundant, overexpressive, overthoughtful, overhuman way I love people), and so I will wait for him. So I ask taxi driver to drop me at the Galeries Lafayette, where I begin to look for a new hat and to shop for Christmas. Pride? I don't know. A kind of wise retreat. I need people too much. So I bury my gigantic defect, my overflow of love, under trivialities, like a child. I amuse myself with a new hat.

- Anais Nin

topic: Wise, Children, Pride, Overflow, Wait For Him

It is good to collect things, but it is better to go on walks.

- Anatole France

topic: Wise, Goes On, Walks

They're mutually incompatible I feel; being a wise thief and a wise father.

- Andre Braugher

source: Interview with Eric Goldman, www.ign.com. March 24, 2006.

topic: Wise, Father, Thieves

Of all those arts in which the wise excel, Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.

- Andre Breton

source: "Essay on Poetry" by John Sheffield,

topic: Wise, Art, Nature, Writing Well

The simple person lives the way he breathes, with no more effort or glory, with no more affectation and without shame Simplicity is freedom, buoyancy, transparency. As simple as the air, as free as the air The simple person does not take himself too seriously or too tragicallyHe has nothing to prove, since he has no appearances to keep up, and nothing to seek, since everything is before him. What is more simple than simplicity? What is lighter? It is the virtue of wise men and the wisdom of saints.

- Andre Comte-Sponville

topic: Wise, Simple, Men, Buoyancy, Simple Person

Complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable to give possesses you.

- Andre Gide

topic: Wise, Kindness, Helping Others

The wise man is astonished by anything.

- Andre Gide

topic: Wise, Wisdom, Men

For intelligent people, action often means escape from thought, but it is a reasonable and a wise escape.

- Andre Maurois

topic: Wise, Mean, Intelligent

It's just a logical guess that they are very very wise to put someone from the old series in it, and if you had to choose, it would be a very difficult decision.

- Andreas Katsulas

topic: Wise, Decision, Would Be, Difficult Decisions, Very Wise

I know only one thing. when i sleep, i know no fear, no, trouble no bliss. blessing on him who invented sleep. the common coin that purchases all things, the balance that levels shepherd and king, fool and wise man. there is only one bad thing about sound sleep. they say it closely resembles death.

- Andrei Tarkovsky

topic: Wise, Kings, Sleep, Sound Sleep

Concentrate your energies, your thoughts and your capital. The wise man puts all his eggs in one basket and watches the basket.

- Andrew Carnegie

topic: Wise, Wisdom, Money, Eggs In One Basket

I wish to have as my epitaph: 'Here lies a man who was wise enough to bring into his service men who knew more than he.'

- Andrew Carnegie

topic: Wise, Lying, Men

I resolved to stop accumulating and begin the infinitely more serious and difficult task of wise distribution.

- Andrew Carnegie

topic: Inspiring, Wise, Responsibility, Philanthropic, Philanthropy Inspiration

God cannot be referred to as 'good,' 'better,' or 'best' because He is above all things. If a man says that God is wise, the man is lying because anything that is wise can become wiser. Anything that a man might say about God is incorrect... The best a man can do is to remain silent...The true master knows that if he had a God he could understand, he would never hold Him to be God.

- Andrew Davidson

source: "The Gargoyle". Book by Andrew Davidson, August 5, 2008.

topic: Wise, Lying, Men

Every time a message seems to grab us, and we think, 'I just might try it,' we are at the nexus of choice and persuasion that is advertising.

- Andrew Hacker

topic: Wise, Witty, Thinking, Nexus

What a recovery of the wisdom of the Mother brings to all of us is the knowledge of inseparable connection with the entire creation and the wise, active love that is born from that knowledge.

- Andrew Harvey

source: Andrew Harvey (2012). “Radical Passion: Sacred Love and Wisdom in Action”, p.187, North Atlantic Books

topic: Wise, Mother, Recovery

Legislation can neither be wise nor just which seeks the welfare of a single interest at the expense and to the injury of many and varied interests.

- Andrew Johnson

source: Andrew Johnson (1967). “The Papers of Andrew Johnson: September 1868-April 1869”, p.471, Univ. of Tennessee Press

topic: Wise, Presidential, Welfare

I'm not really wise. But I can be cranky.

- Andy Griffith

topic: Wise, Cranky

Personal Vision is often the catalyst for wise decisions.

- Andy Stanley

topic: Wise, Decision, Vision, Wise Decision, Personal Vision

Holy Scripture is so exalted that there is no one in the world ... wise enough to understand it so fully that his intellect is not overcome by it. Nevertheless, man can stammer something about it.

- Angela of Foligno

topic: Bible, Wise, Men

Been having a fight with your blankets, Septimus?" A familiar voice echoed down the chimney. "Looks like you lost," the voice continued with a chuckle. "Not wise to take on a pair of blankets, lad. One, maybe, but two blankets always gang up on you. Vicious things, blankets.

- Angie Sage

source: Angie Sage (2012). “Physik: Septimus Heap”, p.40, A&C Black

topic: Wise, Fighting, Two

We are wise women, we are giggling girls. We both carry a smile to show when we're pleased, we both carry a switchblade in our sleeves.

- Ani DiFranco

topic: Girl, Wise, Evil, Wise Women, Evil Women

My father was extremely loving to me and funny and wise and understanding, and at other times extremely demanding, critical, calculating, exacting. When you're a young woman, I think you want to please a lot, so maybe you accept more of the criticism than you would as an older person. But criticism can be very wounding. It certainly was to me.

- Anjelica Huston

topic: Wise, Father, Thinking

But will he come I just want to know what you think the odds are. Tell me what you really think." "I think Tibby was a wise girl. I think she loved you.

- Ann Brashares

topic: Girl, Wise, Thinking, Wise Girl

The aspirations of democracy are based on the notion of an informed citizenry, capable of making wise decisions. The choices we are asked to make become increasingly complex. They require the longer-term thinking and greater tolerance for ambiguity that science fosters. The new economy is predicated on a continuous pipeline of scientific and technological innovation. It can not exist without workers and consumers who are mathematically and scientifically literate.

- Ann Druyan

topic: Wise, Thinking, Choices, Wise Decision, Informed Citizenry

How strange it is, that a fool or knave, with riches, should be treated with more respect by the world, than a good man, or a wise man in poverty!

- Ann Radcliffe

source: Ann Radcliffe (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ann Radcliffe (Illustrated)”, p.1096, Delphi Classics

topic: Wise, Men, Good Man

A road to a friend's house is never long.

- Ann Richards

topic: Wise, Long, House, Danish, Long Friendship

Be beautiful if you can, wise if you want to, but be respected - that is essential.

- Anna Gould

topic: Beautiful, Wise, Respect, Socialites

Philostratus, in his Life of Apollonius Tyaneus represents the latter as informing King Phraotes that "the Oneiropolists, or Interpreters of Visions, are wont never to interpret any vision till they have first enquired the time at which it befell; for, if it were early, and of the morning sleep, they then thought that they might make a good interpretation thereof... in that the soul was then fitted for divination, and disincumbered. But if in the first sleep, or near midnight, while the soul was as yet clouded and drowned in libations, they, being wise, refused to give any interpretation.

- Anna Kingsford

topic: Wise, Morning, Kings, Informing, Clouded

I ask Thee for a thankful love, Through constant watching wise, To meet the glad with joyful smiles, And to wipe the weeping eyes, And a heart at leisure from itself, To soothe and sympathize.

- Anna Laetitia Waring

source: "Father I know that all my Life, Hymns and Meditations" by Anna Laetitia Waring, (p. 2), 1850.

topic: Sympathy, Wise, Heart

There is no object that we see; no action that we do; no good that we enjoy; no evil that we feel, or fear, but we may make some spiritual advantage of all: and he that makes such improvement is wise, as well as pious.

- Anne Bradstreet

source: Anne Bradstreet, Adrienne Rich, Jeannine Hensley (2010). “The works of Anne Bradstreet”, Belknap Pr

topic: Wise, Spiritual, Evil

Great love, you believe, carries the seeds of great sorrow. Well, perhaps you are right. Perhaps the wise spurn one to remain safe from the other, but I should rather choose to have my eyes burnt in their sockets than to have been born without.

- Anne Fortier

topic: Wise, Believe, Love You

Although I'm only fourteen, I know quite well what I want, I know who is right and who is wrong. I have my opinions, my own ideas and principles, and although it may sound pretty mad from an adolescent, I feel more of a person than a child, I feel quite indepedent of anyone.

- Anne Frank

topic: Wise, Hope, Children

Writers are such phonies: they sometimes have wise insights but they don't live by them at all. That's what writers are like...you think they know something, but usually they are just messes.

- Anne Sexton

topic: Wise, Thinking, Sometimes

The trombones crunched redgold under my bed, and behind my gulliver the trumpets three-wise silverflamed, and there by the door the timps rolling through my guts and out again crunched like candy thunder. Oh, it was wonder of wonders. And then, a bird of like rarest spun heavenmetal, or like silvery wine flowing in a spaceship, gravity all nonsense now, came the violin solo above all the other strings, and those strings were like a cage of silk around my bed. Then flute and oboe bored, like worms of like platinum, into the thick thick toffee gold and silver. I was in such bliss, my brothers.

- Anthony Burgess

topic: Wise, Brother, Wine, Toffee, Trombone

Waking up is unpleasant, you know. You are nice and comfortable in bed. It is irritating to be woken up. That's the reason the wise guru will not attempt to wake people up. I hope I'm going to be wise here and make no attempt whatsoever to wake you up if you are asleep. It is really none of my business, even though I say to you at times, "Wake up!" My business is to do my thing, to dance my dance. If you profit from it fine; if you don't, too bad! As the Arabs say, "The nature of rain is the same, but it makes thorns grow in the marshes and flowers in the gardens."

- Anthony de Mello

topic: Wise, Nice, Rain, Marshes

When you come to see you are not as wise today as you thought you were yesterday, you are wiser today.

- Anthony de Mello

topic: Wise, Yesterday, Today

Responding to the question "If Mr. Stalin dies, what will be the effect on international affairs?" That is a good question for you to ask, not a wise question for me to answer.

- Anthony Eden

topic: Wise, Answers, Affair, International Affairs, Good Questions

Learn to love humility, for it will cover all your sins. All sins are repulsive before God, but the most repulsive of all is pride of the heart. Do not consider yourself learned and wise; otherwise, all your efforts will be destroyed, and your boat will reach the harbor empty. If you have great authority, do not threaten anyone with death. Know that, according to nature, you too are susceptible to death, and that every soul sheds its body as its final garment.

- Anthony of Padua

topic: Wise, Heart, Humility, Great Author

The creator of the heavens obeys a carpenter; the God of eternal glory listens to a poor virgin. Has anyone ever witnessed anything comparable to this? Let the philosopher no longer disdain from listening to the common laborer; the wise, to the simple; the educated, to the illiterate; a child of a prince, to a peasant.

- Anthony of Padua

topic: Wise, Children, Simple, Disdain, Laborers

That is the hardest thing of all. It is much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself, it's because you're truly a wise man.

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

topic: Wise, Men, Judging, Judging Yourself

They say philosophers and wise men are indifferent. Wrong. Indifference is a paralysis of the soul, a premature death.

- Anton Chekhov

topic: Wise, Men, Soul, Premature Death

And I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage. You may be proud, wise, and fine, but death will wipe you off the face of the earth as though you were no more than mice burrowing under the floor, and your posterity, your history, your immortal geniuses will burn or freeze together with the earthly globe.

- Anton Chekhov

topic: Wise, Book, Blessing, Burrowing

The artist may rightly venture the opinion that he does not convey ideas, does not preach, nor does he intend to convert people by using mass communication techniques... Better than handing out all kinds of wise advice, he could show life itself; he could awake forces lying dormant in everybody. He could launch an invitation to create direct and personal experiences.

- Antoni Tapies

topic: Wise, Lying, Communication, Mass Communication, Wise Advice

Examining this water...I found floating therein divers earthy particles, and some green streaks, spirally wound serpent-wise...and I judge that some of these little creatures were above a thousand times smaller than the smallest ones I have ever yet seen, upon the rind of cheese, in wheaten flour, mould, and the like.

- Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

topic: Wise, Science, Water, Flour

Passing just lately over this lake, ... and examining this water next day, I found floating therein divers earthy particles, and some green streaks, spirally wound serpent-wise, and orderly arranged, after the manner of the copper or tin worms, which distillers use to cool their liquors as they distil over. The whole circumference of each of these streaks was about the thickness of a hair of one's head. ... all consisted of very small green globules joined together: and there were very many small green globules as well. [The earliest recorded observation of the common green alga Spyrogyra.]

- Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

topic: Wise, Lakes, Hair, Thickness

The wise do not investigate such silliness.

- Antonin Scalia

topic: Wise, Scary, Silliness

The deepest words of the wise man teach us the same as the whistle of the wind when it blows or the sound of the water when it is flowing.

- Antonio Machado

source: Antonio Machado (2011). “Times Alone: Selected Poems of Antonio Machado”, p.69, Wesleyan University Press

topic: Wise, Blow, Men

In a full heart there is room for everything, and in an empty heart there is room for nothing.

- Antonio Porchia

source: Antonio Porchia (2006). “Voces reunidas”, Pre Textos Ed

topic: Broken Heart, Wise, Appreciation, Full Hearts, Empty Heart

A wise man once said that a person is known by the company he keeps, but could then also add that the character of the company is known by the people it keeps for the longest days, especially at the strategic decision making level.

- Anuj

topic: Wise, Character, Men

A person understands other's language only in tune with his attitude with most people all the time, so it's wise to act nice with individuals only in proportion with the truth cherished in their lives.

- Anuj

topic: Wise, Attitude, Nice

I think a Play the best divertisement that wise men have: but I do also think them nothing so who do discourse so formallie about the rules of it, as if 'twere the grand affair of humane life.

- Aphra Behn

source: Aphra Behn (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Aphra Behn (Illustrated)”, p.273, Delphi Classics

topic: Wise, Men, Thinking

It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it.

- Archibald Alexander Hodge

topic: Wise, Courage, Men

He is wise who knows the sources of knowledge - where it is written and where it is to be found.

- Archibald Alexander Hodge

topic: Inspirational, Education, Wise

Difficulties are just God's errands. If we are sent upon them, it is an evidence of His confidence. Therefore, let us be glad, be happy, for it is a way of being wise.

- Ardeth Kapp

source: Ardeth Greene Kapp (1987). “I Walk by Faith”, Shadow Mountain

topic: Wise, Adversity, Errands

Creation is quite impressionable. Everyone leaves a trail of their actions. And everyone, however wise, however powerful, however immortal, makes mistakes. All it requires is the patience to wait for them. And you'll find no one, in all Creation, quite so patient as Death.

- Ari Marmell

source: Ari Marmell (2012). “Darksiders: The Abomination Vault”, p.351, Del Rey

topic: Wise, Powerful, Mistake, Impressionable

A deep, wise, and wonderful exploration of the Vedanta path for relationships both with yourself and with others. In this book, Shubhraji provides everything you need to create healthy, fulfilling relationships, using ancient wisdom, beautiful stories, tools, and exercises. This book is a must read for those on a serious spiritual journey.

- Arielle Ford

topic: Beautiful, Wise, Spiritual, Ancient Wisdom

Wise people, even though all laws were abolished, would still lead the same life.

- Aristophanes

topic: Life, Wise, Wisdom, Wise People

The wise learn many things from their enemies.

- Aristophanes

source: Aristophanes, W. J. Hickie (1873). “The Comedies of Aristophanes”, p.322

topic: Wise, Wisdom, Enemy

Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny.

- Aristotle

topic: Motivational, Wise, Destiny, Choose Wisely, Wise Choices

The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently; but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life - knowing that under certain conditions it is not worthwhile to live.

- Aristotle

topic: Wise, Wisdom, Men, Life Crisis, Nicomachean Ethics

The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.

- Aristotle

topic: Wise, Pain, Philosophical, Pain And Pleasure, Pleasures Of Life

To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man.

- Aristotle

topic: Wise, Writing, Men

At first he who invented any art that went beyond the common perceptions of man was naturally admired by men, not only because there was something useful in the inventions, but because he was thought wise and superior to the rest. But as more arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life, others to its recreation, the inventors of the latter were always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former, because their branches of knowledge did not aim at utility.

- Aristotle

topic: Wise, Art, Knowledge

The argument of Alcidamas: Everyone honours the wise. Thus the Parians have honoured Archilochus, in spite of his bitter tongue; the Chians Homer, though he was not their countryman; the Mytilenaeans Sappho, though she was a woman; the Lacedaemonians actually made Chilon a member of their senate, though they are the least literary of men; the inhabitants of Lampsacus gave public burial to Anaxagoras, though he was an alien, and honour him even to this day.

- Aristotle

topic: Wise, Men, Tongue, Burial

Wise people have an inward sense of what is beautiful, and the highest wisdom is to trust this intuition and be guided by it.

- Aristotle

topic: Beautiful, Wise, People, Wise People

The proper, wise balancing of one's whole life may depend upon the feasibility of a cup of tea at an unusual hour.

- Arnold Bennett

topic: Wise, Tea, May, Feasibility

A wise person decides slowly but abides by these decisions.

- Arthur Ashe

topic: Wise, Decision, Persons

Oh leave the Wise our measures to collate. One thing at least is certain, light has weight. One thing is certain and the rest debate. Light rays, when near the Sun, do not go straight.

- Arthur Eddington

topic: Wise, Light, Rays, Rays Of Light

Wise sayings often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away.

- Arthur Helps

source: Sir Arthur Helps (1883). “Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd”

topic: Inspirational, Wise, Gratitude, Kind Words, Wise Sayings

There are few who would need advisers, if they were only accustomed to appeal to themselves in their calmest, holiest moments. If, when embarrassed with doubt as to any course of action, they would turn aside from the immediate tumult of the world, and from the vain speaking of those who "darken counsel by words without knowledge;" and would then commune with their hearts alone, at night, the heavens their silent counsellors, they would act not always in accordance with the wise men of this world, but with that wisdom which bringeth peace.

- Arthur Helps

topic: Wise, Wisdom, Heart, Counsellors, Tumult

A great many wise sayings have been uttered about the effects of solitary retirement; but the motives which impel men to seek it are not more various than the effects which it produces on different individuals. One thing is certain, that those who can with truth affirm that they are "never less alone than when alone," might generally add that they never feel more lonely than when not alone.

- Arthur Helps

source: Sir Arthur Helps (1883). “Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd”

topic: Wise, Lonely, Retirement, Wise Sayings

For, contrary to the common opinion, it is the wealthy who are greedy of wealth; while the populace are to be gained by talking to them about liberty, their unknown god. And so much are they enchanted by the words liberty, freedom, and such like, that the wise can go to the poor, rob them of what little they have, dismiss them with a hearty kick, and win their hearts and their votes for ever, if only they will assure them that the treatment which they have received is called liberty.

- Arthur Machen

source: Arthur Machen (2016). “The Terror: Machen's Collection”, p.37, VM eBooks

topic: Wise, Heart, Winning, Hearty

Good character is that quality which makes one dependable whether being watched or not, which makes one truthful when it is to one's advantage to be a little less than truthful, which makes one courageous when faced with great obstacles and which endows one with the firmness of' wise self-discipline.

- Arthur S. Adams

topic: Wise, Character, Self, Firmness, Dependable

Compassion is the basis of morality.

- Arthur Schopenhauer

topic: Wise, Ignorance, Caring

There are two things which make it impossible to believe that this world is the successful work of an all-wise, all-good, and at the same time, all-powerful being; firstly, the misery which abounds in it everywhere; and secondly, the obvious imperfection of its highest product, man, who is a burlesque of what he should be.

- Arthur Schopenhauer

topic: Wise, Atheist, Powerful, Successful Work, Burlesque

Chastisement is designed for our good, to promote our highest interests. Look beyond the rod to the All-wise hand that wields it!

- Arthur W. Pink

topic: Christian, Wise, Blessing, Chastisement

With regard to electric vehicles, I am all for them because most of the incremental electricity needed to run those vehicles will come from gas-fired electric generation. However, I do not believe it is wise for America to substitute dependence on foreign oil for dependence on Chinese batteries.

- Aubrey McClendon

topic: Wise, Running, Believe, Electric Vehicles, Foreign Oil

A quality education has the power to transform societies in a single generation, provide children with the protection they need from the hazards of poverty, labor exploitation and disease, and given them the knowledge, skills, and confidence to reach their full potential.

- Audrey Hepburn

topic: Education, Wise, Children, Quality Education