It is rightly said – the first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others.
Attaining wisdom empowers our thinking in every way that adds worth to life.
Read more thoughtful Wisdom Quotes and stay connected with wise words by Great Thinkers and Intellectuals of all the time.
170+ Wisdom Quotes – Words of Wisdom about Life
“Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“The wise have a solid sense of silence and the ability to keep a storehouse of secrets. Their capacity and character are respected.” ― Baltasar Gracian
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” ― Plato
“Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness.” ― Sophocles
“When anger enters the mind, wisdom departs.” ― Thomas a Kempis
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” ― Lao Tzu
“Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.” ― Aesop
“Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure.” ― Edward Thorndike
“Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use.” ― Thomas J. Watson
“A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.” ― Gautama Buddha
“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.” ― Matsuo Basho
“Contemplation and wisdom are highest achievements and man is not totally at home with them.” ― Gabriel Marcel
“A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.” ― David Hume
“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” ― Rumi
“Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.” ― Hermann Hesse
“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” ― Marcus Aurelius
“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“When you’re used to being prepared to reject conventional wisdom, it leaves you open to learn more.” ― Mayim Bialik
“You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.” ― Swami Vivekananda
“The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.” ― Khalil Gibran
“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” ― Confucius
“The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others.” ― Solomon ibn Gabirol
“The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are perpetuated by quotations.” ― Benjamin Disraeli
“It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.” ― Walter Lippmann
“Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.” ― Confucius
“We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.” ― Swami Vivekananda
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” ― Epictetus
“Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.” ― Confucius
“Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.” ― Francis Bacon
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.” ― Claude Levi-Strauss
“Ninety percent of all human wisdom is the ability to mind your own business.” ― Robert A. Heinlein
“When proven wrong, the wise man will correct himself and the ignorant will keep arguing.” ― Ali ibn Abi Talib
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” ― Aristotle
“Wisdom is not wisdom when it is derived from books alone.” ― Horace
“Not by age but by capacity is wisdom acquired.” ― Plautus
“To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.” ― Lao Tzu
“To know when to be generous, and when firm—this is wisdom.” ― Elbert Hubbard
“It is better to listen to a wise enemy than to seek counsel from a foolish friend.” ― Ali ibn Abi Talib
“Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“A man only becomes wise when he begins to calculate the approximate depth of his ignorance.” ― Gian Carlo Menotti
“Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience.” ― George Bernard Shaw
“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
“It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.” ― Henry David Thoreau
“Even when you have doubts, take that step. Take chances. Mistakes are never a failure – they can be turned into wisdom.” ― Cat Cora
“Of all the forms of wisdom, hindsight is by general consent the least merciful, the most unforgiving.” ― John Fletcher
“The true wisdom is to be always seasonable, and to change with a good grace in changing circumstances.” ― Robert Louis Stevenson
“A wise man is superior to any insults which can be put upon him, and the best reply to unseemly behavior is patience and moderation.” ― Moliere
“The wisest mind has something yet to learn.” ― George Santayana
“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.” ― Matsuo Basho
“The small wisdom is like water in a glass: clear, transparent, pure. The great wisdom is like the water in the sea: dark, mysterious, impenetrable.” ― Rabindranath Tagore
“The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all the other woes of mankind, is wisdom.” ― Thomas Henry Huxley
“If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.” ― Henry Ford
“A wise man turns chance into good fortune.” ― Thomas Fuller
“A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.” ― Maya Angelou
“Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.” ― Juvenal
“The seat of knowledge is in the head; of wisdom, in the heart. We are sure to judge wrong, if we do not feel right.” ― William Hazlitt
“There is no such thing as an inevitable war. If war comes it will be from failure of human wisdom.” ― Bonar Law
“Statistics may be defined as ‘a body of methods for making wise decisions in the face of uncertainty’.” ― W. Allen Wallis
“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” ― Isaac Asimov
“By wisdom wealth is won; but riches purchased wisdom yet for none.” ― Bayard Taylor
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” ― William Arthur Ward
“It is a wise man who knows where courage ends and stupidity begins.” ― Jerome Cady
“The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct.” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it.” ― Doug Larson
“A wise man is out of the reach of fortune.” ― Thomas Browne
“Knowledge is the treasure, but judgment is the treasurer of a wise man.” ― William Penn
“Anyone can find fault. It is the wise person who finds that which encourages another in the turmoils and strifes of the day.” ― Edgar Cayce
“True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” ― Socrates
“Wise men make more opportunities than they find.” ― Francis Bacon
“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.” ― William Butler Yeats
“Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life. ” ― Immanuel Kant
“From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own.” ― Publilius Syrus
“Learning sleeps and snores in libraries, but wisdom is everywhere, wide awake, on tiptoe.” ― Josh Billings
“Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.” ― Helen Keller
“Along with success comes a reputation for wisdom.” ― Euripides
“Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.” ― Lao Tzu
“Innocence dwells with Wisdom, but never with ignorance.” ― William Blake
“Knowledge comes from learning. Wisdom comes from living. ” ― Anthony Douglas Williams
“A wise man will desire no more than what he may get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contently.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.” ― Tom Wilson
“The man of wisdom is never of two minds; the man of benevolence never worries; the man of courage is never afraid.” ― Confucius
“Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart.” ― Alan Alda
“Rich people without wisdom and learning are but sheep with golden fleeces.” ― Solon
“Wisdom is that apprehension of heavenly things to which the spirit rises through love.” ― Honore de Balzac
“Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.” ― William Cowper
“Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.” ― Benjamin Disraeli
“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” ― Isaac Asimov
“Of all the things which wisdom provides to make us entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.” ― Epicurus
“Back of every mistaken venture and defeat is the laughter of wisdom, if you listen.” ― Carl Sandburg
“Greed is permanent slavery.” ― Ali ibn Abi Talib
“Wisdom is found only in truth.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” ― Martin Luther King, Jr.
“There is no knowledge, no light, no wisdom that you are in possession of, but what you have received it from some source.” ― Brigham Young
“A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.” ― Francis Bacon
“Wisdom is having things right in your life and knowing why.” ― William Stafford
“Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child.” ― Ron Wild
“It is not Wisdom, but Ignorance, which teaches men presumption; Genius may be sometimes arrogant, but nothing is so diffident as Knowledge.” ― Edward Bulwer-Lytton
“No wise man ever thought that a traitor should be trusted.” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Close some doors today. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because they lead you nowhere.” ― Paulo Coelho
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” ― Lao Tzu
“The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte
“Be wiser than other people, if you can; but do not tell them so.” ― Lord Chesterfield
“Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.” ― Martin H. Fischer
“Some of the best lessons we ever learn are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom and success of the future.” ― Dale Turner
“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“Stubbornness destroys good advice.” ― Ali ibn Abi Talib
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.” ― Leo Tolstoy
“The value of experience is not in seeing much, but in seeing wisely.” ― William Osler
“A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.” ― Gautama Buddha
“It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.” ― Walter Lippmann
“It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.” ― Winston Churchill
“The mind that is wise mourns less for what age takes away; than what it leaves behind.” ― William Wordsworth
“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.” ― Gautama Buddha
“Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” ― T. S. Eliot
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“A little foolishness, enough to enjoy life, and a little wisdom to avoid the errors, that will do.” — Osho
“Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.” ― Gautama Buddha
“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.” ― Alfred Lord Tennyson
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.” ― Leo Tolstoy
“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
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” ― Rumi
“He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Wisdom is not in words; Wisdom is meaning within words.” ― Khalil Gibran
“Time ripens all things. No man is born wise.” ― Miguel de Cervantes
“A loving heart is the truest wisdom.” ― Charles Dickens
“Daily practical wisdom consists of four things: To know the root of Truth, the branches of Truth, the limit of Truth, and the opposite of Truth.” ― Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
“The wise man does not grow old, but ripens.” ― Victor Hugo
“Blessed are they who seek to learn wisdom.” ― Ezra Taft Benson
“Wisdom denotes the pursuing of the best ends by the best means.” ― Francis Hutcheson
“We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.” ― Francois de La Rochefoucauld
“Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.” ― Khalil Gibran
“In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don’t let your eyes deceive you.” ― Janet Jackson
“We can be knowledgeable with other men’s knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men’s wisdom.” ― Michel de Montaigne
“Go wisely and slowly. Those who rush stumble and fall.” ― William Shakespeare
“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.” ― Marcel Proust
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.” ― Leo Tolstoy
“If you have the guts to keep making mistakes, your wisdom and intelligence leap forward with huge momentum.” ― Holly Near
“Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child.” ― Ron Wild
“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” ― Saint Augustine
“True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” ― Socrates
“Remind yourself that all men assert that wisdom is the greatest good, but that there are few who strenuously seek out that greatest good.” ― Pythagoras
“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” ― Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.” ― Baltasar Gracian
“The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” ― Socrates
“JOY goes against the foundations of mathematics: it multiplies when we divide.” ― Paulo Coelho
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” — Socrates
“Knowledge comes from learning. Wisdom comes from living.” ― Anthony Douglas Williams
“Understanding the limitations of human beings is the beginning of wisdom.” ― Thomas Sowell
“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.” ― Paulo Coelho
“Wisdom is merely the movement from fighting life to embracing it.” ― Rasheed Ogunlaru
“A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.” ― Grantland Rice
“The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.” ― Aristotle
“Wisdom comes alone through suffering.” ― Aeschylus
“It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others.” ― John of the Cross
“Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.” ― Doug Larson
“Wisdom prepares for the worst, but folly leaves the worst for the day when it comes.” ― Richard Cecil
“Fools multiply when wise men are silent.” ― Nelson Mandela
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” ― Socrates
“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.” ― Alfred Lord Tennyson
“To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly.” ― Samuel Johnson
“To get others to come into our ways of thinking, we must go over to theirs; and it is necessary to follow, in order to lead.” ― William Hazlitt
“Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.” ― Francis of Assisi
“The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” ― Lao Tzu
“The more in harmony you are with the flow of your own existence, the more magical life becomes.” ― Adyashanti
“Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.” ― Rumi
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” ― Marcus Aurelius
“The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.” ― Lao Tzu
“In youth and beauty, wisdom is but rare!” ― Homer
“By wisdom wealth is won; but riches purchased wisdom yet for none.” ― Bayard Taylor
“Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it.” ― David Starr Jordan
“To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” ― Bertrand Russell
“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
