Wise Quotes

The first proof of a well-ordered mind is to be able to pause and linger within itself.

She had always been too wise to tell him all she thought and felt, knowing by some intuition of her own womanhood that no man wants to know everything of any woman.

Only madmen and fools are pleased with themselves; no wise man is good enough for his own satisfaction.

Be still, then, thou uneasy mortal; know that God is unerringly wise; and be assured that, amidst the greatest multiplicity of beings, He does not overlook thee.

The wise know their limitations; the foolish do not.

Nature herself makes the wise man rich.

The most exquisite folly is made of wisdom spun too fine.

God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.

Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement.

Conceit is a privilege of the ignorant; the wise man is humble because he knows how little he knows.

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

Subtle and literate, The Dance of Intimacy is like a long, revealing conversation with a wise and compassionate friend.

It is not fit that every man should travel; it makes a wise man better, and a fool worse.

The feeble tremble before opinion, the foolish defy it, the wise judge it, the skillful direct it.

He is wise who can instruct us and assist us in the business of virtuous living.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night.

Though we may be learned by another's knowledge, we can never be wise but by our own experience.

I have heard men talk about the blessings of freedom," he said to himself, "but I wish any wise man would teach me what use to make of it now that I have it.

Wise men never grow up; indeed, they grow younger, for they lose the appalling worldly wisdom of youth.

Experience makes us wise.

It is the wise man's part to leave in darkness everything that is ugly.

To reform a world, to reform a nation, no wise man will undertake; and all but foolish men know, that the only solid, though a far slower reformation, is what each begins and perfects on himself.

Wise people are foolish if they cannot adapt to foolish people.

One is more apt to become wise by doing fool things than by reading wise sayings.

Forbear, you things That stand upon the pinnacles of state, To boast your slippery height! when you do fall, You dash yourselves in pieces, ne'er to rise: And he that lends you pity, is not wise.

The American people may not be the best-educated, but they're very wise at heart.

He is no wise man who will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.

God is too good to be unkind, too wise to be mistaken; and when you cannot trace His hand, you can trust His heart.

Many wise words are spoken in jest, but they don't compare with the number of stupid words spoken in earnest.

Even the wise need wisdom.

Better is old wine than new, and old friends like-wise.

Hitting a shorter club to these greens means a great, great deal. Younger players are so much more capable length-wise.

As the art of reading (after a certain stage in one's education) isthe art of skipping, so the art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and my talents and I lay them both at his feet.

We can learn much from wise words, little from wisecracks, and less from wise guys.

Choose a good disagreeable friend, if you be wise--a surly, steady, economical, rigid fellow.

Nothing would more contribute to make a man wise than to have always an enemy in his view.

It [angling] deserves commendations;... it is an art worthy the knowledge and practice of a wise man.

Irrigators channel waters; fletchers straighten arrows; carpenters bend wood; the wise master themselves.

Opportunity is rare, and a wise man will never let it go by him.

He who lives without folly isn't so wise as he thinks.

The wisdom of our ancestors.

So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.

Beauty makes idiots sad and wise men merry.

It is great folly to wish to be wise all alone.

Few of the many wise apothegms which have been uttered have prevented a single foolish action.

Thinking well to be wise: planning well, wiser: doing well wisest and best of all.

Luck can be assisted. It is not all chance with the wise.

We are all vainer of our luck than of our merits.

The wise does at once what the fool does at last.