Wisdom Quotes

originality and a feeling of one's own dignity are achieved only through work and struggle.

~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

There is no greater power than the one others do not believe you possess.

~ Luis Marques

You don't always need to know your destination when you set out on a journey.

~ Carole Wilkinson

Physical strength doesn't mean a damn thing when you're all cut up and bleeding inside.

~ Cameron Dane

He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.

~ Samuel Johnson

Basically, being alive means keeping yourself ready for the sky to fall in on you at any time. If you start from the assumption that existence is only an ordeal, a test we have to pass, then you’re equipped to deal with its sorrows and its surprises. If you persist in expecting it to give you something it can’t give, that just proves that you haven’t understood anything. Take things as they come; don’t turn them into a drama. You’re not piloting the ship, you’re following the course of your destiny.

~ Yasmina Khadra

To be careless in making decisions is to naively believe that a single decision impacts nothing more than that single decision, for a single decision can spawn a thousand others that were entirely unnecessary or it can bring peace to a thousand places we never knew existed.

~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

He who knows he is a fool is not the biggest fool; he who knows he is confused is not in the worst confusion. The man in the worst confusion will end his life without ever getting straightened out; the biggest fool will end his life without ever seeing the light. If three men are traveling along and one is confused, they will still get where they are going - because confusion is in the minority. But if two of them are confused, then they can walk until they are exhausted and never get anywhere - because confusion is in the majority.

~ Zhuangzi

It is not really hard to do nothing. Many can. The hard part is doing nothing without feeling guilty about it.

~ Haim Shapira

I thought about the difference between a mama's girl and a daddy's girl. I decided that a daughter who belongs to her daddy expects gifts, while a daughter who belongs to her mama expects a lot more. Not from her mama. From herself.

~ Victoria Bond

While wisdom dictates the need for education, education does not necessarily make one wise.

~ Ben Carson

But perhaps there are in us forces other than mind and heart, other even than the senses - mysterious forces which take hold of us in the moments when the others are asleep; and perhaps it was such forces that Melchior had found in the depths of those pale eyes which had looked at him so timidly one evening when he had accosted the girl on the bank of the river, and had sat down beside her in the reeds - without knowing why - and had given her his hand.

~ Romain Rolland

We are no longer in the dispensation of age and experience. We are in the era of knowledge and information. Information leads a true leader and a true leader leads others.

~ Israelmore Ayivor

Definitions from Mulla Do-PiazaA fool:,A man trying to be honest with the dishonest.

~ Idries Shah

Snobbery might sometimes look cool, like smoking, but the end result is usually a repelling one.

~ Trent Zelazny

We know that for mankind to move forward, changes must be made. However, if an old man is wise only by his gray hair, yet it is inevitable that this wisdom will also become impaired by age, then it can be deduced that we cannot expect the very old or very young to make progressive strides to better society, it must be up to the men and women still in the prime of their lives to re-learn and teach the changes needed to be made.

~ Suzy Kassem

Love between man and woman cannot be built without sacrifices and self-denial.

~ John Paul Ii

Stuff your brain with knowledge.

~ Karl Lagerfeld

Sometimes I think that wisdoms slip from my mind like drool from the lips of an idiot...Where's all this stuff coming from? Is it any good? Any good in, you know, the wisdom sense? Who am I to spout this stuff anyway?Well, here's the thing. You too can find yourself shedding wisdom like cat hair if you only allow yourself the liberty of introspection.Think about what you alone know that no one else does. That one neat wonderful profound insight. It is fully yours. No one else on this planet of about six billion people understands it like you do.Now, see if you can share it with someone. Bestow it, a gift of yourself.Wisdom is like gossip. Except it's the good kind.

~ Vera Nazarian

You may die a hundred deaths without a break in the mental turmoil. Or, you may keep your body and die only in the mind. The death of the mind is the birth of wisdom.

~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

You are joy, looking for a way to express. It's not just that your purpose is joy, it is that you are joy. You are love and joy and freedom and clarity expressing. Energy-frolicking and eager. That's who you are.

~ Esther Hicks

You need to trustTo surrenderTo ask for guidanceGo within for the answersThey're within youYou have the answersAll you need do is ask

~ Karen Hackel

When you feel life at crossroads,you need higher perspective view.

~ Toba Beta

The true Indian sets no price upon either his property or his labor. His generosity is limited only by his strength and ability. He regards it as an honor to be selected for difficult or dangerous service and would think it shameful to ask for any reward, saying rather: Let the person I serve express his thanks according to his own bringing up and his sense of honor. Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet earth, and the Great Silence alone!. What is Silence? It is the Great Mystery! The Holy Silence is His voice!

~ Charles Alexander Eastman

Marriage without struggle is like an unfired clay pot.It is easily made, but it will not stand the test of time.

~ Allan Wolf

My story is of such marvel that if it were written with a needle on the corner of an eye, it would yet serve as a lesson to those who seek wisdom.

~ Anonymous

We may think we live for wisdom, but in fact we're living for the the pleasure wisdom brings us.

~ Josef Škvorecký

Let your wisdom guide youOn your own personal journey By listening to your heartYour soul will be alight And let you beAll that you are intended to be

~ Karen Hackel

It is important never to separate love and knowledge, compassion and wisdom. A wisdom without compassion is closed upon itself and does not bear fruit. A compassion without wisdom is a madness and a cause of suffering.

~ Jean-Yves Leloup

For a while the hobbits continued to talk and think of the past journey and of the perils that lay ahead; but such was the virtue of the land of Rivendell that soon all fear and anxiety was lifted from their minds. The future, good or ill, was not forgotten, but ceased to have any power over the present. Health and hope grew strong in them, and they were content with each good day as it came, taking pleasure in every meal, and in every word and song.

~ J.r.r. Tolkien

Saying 'I could have done more,' Zin, is what marks a man as a man and not a God.

~ R. Scott Bakker

Here’s a little mote of wisdom: Not everyone who claims to be an expert, is indeed an expert. Please note: I have never claimed to be an expert on anything except perhaps making the perfect omelet, and if you don’t like spicy, you’d probably argue with me on that one, too. In fact, anyone claiming to be an expert on anything, in my opinion, should immediately be viewed with suspicion, or be able to produce a PhD Diploma on the subject he or she is professing to be expert in.

~ Chris A. Jackson

Ego is recessive in wisdom.

~ Toba Beta

If you seem to be happy in this place of solitude, you will acquire a great reputation for wisdom, and I know, by my own experience, that under the cloak of a great reputation it is possible to hide whole treasures of folly. (“The Story of Princess Zulkais and the Prince Kalilah”)

~ William Beckford

A wealth of experience and wisdom doesn't have to be a dead giveaway to your increasing years. The spin you put on it is what will keep you young. Don't let it make you bitter. Learn from it, and let it make you better.

~ Jayleigh Cape

Don't be bashful, we're among gentlemen. It's a known fact that we men are the missing link between the pirate and the pig.

~ Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Le passé et le présent sont deux statues incomplètes: l'une a été retirée toute mutilée du débris des âges, l'autre n'a pas encore reçu sa perfection de l'avenir.

~ François-René De Chateaubriand

Creativity thrives where its roots are crowded.

~ Ozzie Zehner

Logic is immaturity weaving its nets of gossamer wherewith it aims to catch the behemoth of knowledge. Logic is a crutch for the cripple, but a burden for the swift of foot and a greater burden still for the wise.

~ Mikhail Naimy

Thirty-nine years of my life had passed before I understood that clouds were not my enemy; that they were beautiful, and that I needed them. I suppose this, for me, marked the beginning of wisdom. Life is short.

~ Iimani David