Famous Quotes

…one half of her should not be always so much wiser than the other half…

~ Jane Austen

Head knowledge is worthless, unless accompanied by submission of the will and right action.

~ Fulton J. Sheen

Wisdom is nothing more than the marriage of intelligence and compassion.And, as with all good unions, it takes much experience and time to reach its widest potential.Have you introduced your intellect to your compassion yet? Be careful; lately, intellect has taken to eating in front of the TV and compassion has taken in too many cats.

~ Vera Nazarian

[T]he wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile.

~ Charles Dickens

The greater puzzle of universal wisdom and beauty that we have strived to honor through our work includes the profound legacies of world artistic and spiritual traditions, the innate integrity of human communities where people seek to live in social harmony, and that regenerative stream of life sustained upon the earth itself as it spins through the cosmos to the music of the spheres.

~ Luther E. Vann

At the time of Lewis and Clark, setting the prairies on fire was a well-known signal that meant, ‘Come down to the water.’ It was an extravagant gesture, but we can’t do less. If the landscape reveals one certainty, it is that the extravagant gesture is the very stuff of creation. After the extravagant gesture of creation in the first place, the universe has continued to deal exclusively in extravagances, flinging intricacies and colossi down aeons of emptiness, heaping profusions on profligacies with ever fresh vigor. The whole show has been on fire from the word go. I come down to the water to cool my eyes. But everywhere I look, I see fire: that which isn’t flint is tinder, and the whole world sparks and flames.

~ Annie Dillard

So I learned then, that gold in it's native state is but dull, unornamental stuff, and that only low-born metals excite the admiration of the ignorant with an ostentatious glitter. However, like the rest of the world, I still go underrating men of gold and glorifying men of mica. Commonplace human nature cannot rise above that.

~ Mark Twain

What sets humans apart from animals is that we have to walk around saying how smart we are, and animals just live their lives.

~ Chanctetinyea J.j. Ouellette

An unwise advisor cannot hope to advise wisely.

~ T.a. Miles

With infinite wisdom and care your life is constantly sustained because Nature flows through you.

~ Michael J. Cohen

Author says her father was so diplomatic that when people came to him for solutions, people not only accepted them, but they believed they thought of them.

~ Immaculée Ilibagiza

Kingsley nodded. 'Of course. Sophia always did say wisdom had to be earned.

~ Melissa De La Cruz

Really to believe in human nature while striving to know the thousand forces that warp it from its ideal development-to call for and expect much from men and women, and not to be disappointed and embittered if they fall short- to try to do good with people rather than to them- this is my religion on its human side. And if God exists, I think that he must be in the warm sun, in the kindly actions of the people we know and read of, in the beautiful things of art and nature, and in the closeness of friendships.

~ Randolph Bourne

Unless you want a horrible surprise, never go bird watching with an open mouth.

~ Kent Allan Rees

Wisdom is nothing more than confirmed imagination: just because one did not study for his exam does not mean that he should leave it blank.

~ Criss Jami

Take away from love the fullness of self surrender, the completeness of personal commitment, and what remains will be a total denial and negation of it.

~ John Paul Ii

Did not learned men, too, hold, till within the last twenty-five years, that a flying dragon was an impossible monster? And do we not now know that there are hundreds of them found fossil up and down the world? People call them Pterodactyles: but that is only because they are ashamed to call them flying dragons, after denying so long that flying dragons could exist.

~ Charles Kingsley

I have no doubt that in reality the future will be vastly more surprising than anything I can imagine. Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.

~ J.b.s. Haldane

Understanding the true nature of things, or seeing things as they really are, is the ground of wisdom.

~ Allan Lokos

Il ne fait aucun doute pour moi que la sagesse est le but principal de la vie et c'est pourquoi je reviens toujours aux stoïciens. Ils ont atteint la sagesse, on ne peut donc plus les appeler des philosophes au sens propre du terme. De mon point de vue, la sagesse est le terme naturel de la philosophie, sa fin dans les deux sens du mot. Une philosophie finit en sagesse et par là même disparaît.

~ Emil M. Cioran

The testimony of the greatest humans who have ever lived is that the way to make the most of ourselves is by transcending ourselves. We must learn to move beyond self-centeredness to make room within ourselves for others. When you transcend yourself, the fact will be confirmed by the quality of your life. We will attain – even if only momentarily – a transparency and a radiance of being which results from living both within and beyond yourself. This is the promise and the excitement of self-understanding.

~ Don Richard Riso

Peace can be found within, no matter the external circumstances.

~ Allan Lokos

Tout bonheur est un chef-d'oeuvre: la moindre erreur le fausse, la moindre hésitation l'altère, la moindre lourder le dépare, la moindre sottise l'abêtit.

~ Marguerite Yourcenar

A wise man, once he is past fifty, does not befuddle his senses with strong drink, nor make violent love in the cool spring night, nor dance on his hands.

~ Frans G. Bengtsson

Patience is supported & nurtured by a quality of forgiveness.

~ Allan Lokos

One of the best ways to support the development of patience is to cultivate happiness with yourself.

~ Allan Lokos

In my opinion, it was chiefly owing to their deep contemplation in their silent retreats in the days of youth that the old Indian orators acquired the habit of carefully arranging their thoughts.They listened to the warbling of birds and noted the grandeur and the beauties of the forest. The majestic clouds—which appear like mountains of granite floating in the air—the golden tints of a summer evening sky, and the changes of nature, possessed a mysterious significance.All of this combined to furnish ample matter for reflection to the contemplating youth.

~ Francis Assikinack

You can know all there is to know about life and mankind, but what do you really know about yourself?

~ Yasmina Khadra

The only thing set in stone are dumb quotes and names of dead people. Everything else is subject to change.

~ Kimberly Spencer

...you have to be godly to be wise ...

~ Derek Kidner

A lizard brain fired the gun that wounded you, but it was the combination of three brains that orchestrated the elaborate circumstances in which the trigger was pulled. Way back when, the Landlord believed a second brain would endow some of his lower life forms with the capacity for emotional connections. By adding the third brain, he probably planned on having his... higher forms empowered with the ability to not only think before acting, but to feel regret afterwards when their actions were wrong. But that’s not what happened, is it?

~ Richard Finney

A man must...not be content to do things well, but must also aim to do them gracefully.

~ Giovanni Della Casa

You cannot insult a wise man with wisdom.

~ Colin Tegerdine

...they say [Finn] has tasted the Nuts of Wisdom. Elatha laughed. Perhaps the Nuts of Wisdom will gird him against your sister.

~ Holly Bennett

The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinion for or against. The struggle of what one likes and what one dislikes is the disease of the mind.

~ Sengcan

To live in the Great Way is neither easy nor difficult, but those with limited views are fearful and irresolute: the faster they hurry, the slower they go, and clinging cannot be limited: even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray. Just let things be in their own way and there will be neither coming nor going. Obey the nature of things (your own nature), and you will walk freely and undisturbed.

~ Sengcan

For the future, I shall rely only upon those elements of my character which I have tested. Who would ever have said that I should find pleasure in shedding tears? That I should love the man who proves to me that I am nothing more than a fool?

~ Stendhal

Cieszy mię ten rym: „Polak mądr po szkodzie”;Lecz jeśli prawda i z tego nas zbodzie,Nową przypowieść Polak sobie kupi,Że i przed szkodą, i po szkodzie głupi.

~ Jan Kochanowski

In not only the physical science, but in the real mental silence, the wisdom dawns. (75)

~ Swami Satchidananda

If the partridge didn't call at the wrong moment, Neither the hunter nor the falcon would know of it. It follows from this point also, That everyone's voice betrays him.

~ Rahman Baba