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.
160+ Wisdom Quotes – Words of Wisdom about Life
“Wisdom is not in words; Wisdom is meaning within words.” ― Khalil Gibran
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.” ― Leo Tolstoy
“Stubbornness destroys good advice.” ― Ali ibn Abi Talib
“There is no such thing as an inevitable war. If war comes it will be from failure of human wisdom.” ― Bonar Law
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” — Socrates
“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” ― Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“Ninety percent of all human wisdom is the ability to mind your own business.” ― Robert A. Heinlein
“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.” ― Gautama Buddha
“Learning sleeps and snores in libraries, but wisdom is everywhere, wide awake, on tiptoe.” ― Josh Billings
“JOY goes against the foundations of mathematics: it multiplies when we divide.” ― Paulo Coelho
“By wisdom wealth is won; but riches purchased wisdom yet for none.” ― Bayard Taylor
“The wisest mind has something yet to learn.” ― George Santayana
“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” ― Saint Augustine
“A man only becomes wise when he begins to calculate the approximate depth of his ignorance.” ― Gian Carlo Menotti
“Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.” ― William Cowper
“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
“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
“Knowledge is the treasure, but judgment is the treasurer of a wise man.” ― William Penn
“The value of experience is not in seeing much, but in seeing wisely.” ― William Osler
“Knowledge comes from learning. Wisdom comes from living.” ― Anthony Douglas Williams
“Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure.” ― Edward Thorndike
“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.” ― William Butler Yeats
“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
“Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.” ― Confucius
“Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life. ” ― Immanuel Kant
“Wisdom denotes the pursuing of the best ends by the best means.” ― Francis Hutcheson
“Wisdom is that apprehension of heavenly things to which the spirit rises through love.” ― Honore de Balzac
“Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.” ― Confucius
“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
“Wisdom is having things right in your life and knowing why.” ― William Stafford
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” ― Lao Tzu
“Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.” ― Helen Keller
“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.” ― Walter Lippmann
“Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.” ― Francis Bacon
“Wisdom prepares for the worst, but folly leaves the worst for the day when it comes.” ― Richard Cecil
“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” ― Isaac Asimov
“Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness.” ― Sophocles
“Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.” ― Gautama Buddha
“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
“When anger enters the mind, wisdom departs.” ― Thomas a Kempis
“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
“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” ― Isaac Asimov
“Even when you have doubts, take that step. Take chances. Mistakes are never a failure – they can be turned into wisdom.” ― Cat Cora
“We can be knowledgeable with other men’s knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men’s wisdom.” ― Michel de Montaigne
“Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it.” ― Doug Larson
“When proven wrong, the wise man will correct himself and the ignorant will keep arguing.” ― Ali ibn Abi Talib
“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” ― Rumi
“Wisdom is merely the movement from fighting life to embracing it.” ― Rasheed Ogunlaru
“Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.” ― Rumi
“Time ripens all things. No man is born wise.” ― Miguel de Cervantes
“Of all the things which wisdom provides to make us entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.” ― Epicurus
“We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.” ― Francois de La Rochefoucauld
“The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte
“A wise man is out of the reach of fortune.” ― Thomas Browne
“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
“Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child.” ― Ron Wild
“He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.” ― Tom Wilson
“It is better to listen to a wise enemy than to seek counsel from a foolish friend.” ― Ali ibn Abi Talib
“To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly.” ― Samuel Johnson
“Wisdom comes alone through suffering.” ― Aeschylus
“A wise man turns chance into good fortune.” ― Thomas Fuller
“Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.” ― Martin H. Fischer
“The mind that is wise mourns less for what age takes away; than what it leaves behind.” ― William Wordsworth
“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“The man of wisdom is never of two minds; the man of benevolence never worries; the man of courage is never afraid.” ― Confucius
“Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use.” ― Thomas J. Watson
“Knowledge comes from learning. Wisdom comes from living. ” ― Anthony Douglas Williams
“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
“Go wisely and slowly. Those who rush stumble and fall.” ― William Shakespeare
“Blessed are they who seek to learn wisdom.” ― Ezra Taft Benson
“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
“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
“A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.” ― Grantland Rice
“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” ― Marcus Aurelius
“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
“To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.” ― Lao Tzu
“To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” ― Bertrand Russell
“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
“Rich people without wisdom and learning are but sheep with golden fleeces.” ― Solon
“It is a wise man who knows where courage ends and stupidity begins.” ― Jerome Cady
“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
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.” ― Leo Tolstoy
“From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own.” ― Publilius Syrus
“Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience.” ― George Bernard Shaw
“The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Greed is permanent slavery.” ― Ali ibn Abi Talib
“Of all the forms of wisdom, hindsight is by general consent the least merciful, the most unforgiving.” ― John Fletcher
“Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.” ― Lao Tzu
“To know when to be generous, and when firm—this is wisdom.” ― Elbert Hubbard
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” ― William Arthur Ward
“Be wiser than other people, if you can; but do not tell them so.” ― Lord Chesterfield
“Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“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
“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” ― Socrates
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” ― Marcus Aurelius
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” ― Socrates
“A loving heart is the truest wisdom.” ― Charles Dickens
“Contemplation and wisdom are highest achievements and man is not totally at home with them.” ― Gabriel Marcel
“The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.” ― Aristotle
“A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.” ― David Hume
“No wise man ever thought that a traitor should be trusted.” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero
“By wisdom wealth is won; but riches purchased wisdom yet for none.” ― Bayard Taylor
“Wisdom is not wisdom when it is derived from books alone.” ― Horace
“Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.” ― Benjamin Disraeli
“Along with success comes a reputation for wisdom.” ― Euripides
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.” ― Baltasar Gracian
“If you have the guts to keep making mistakes, your wisdom and intelligence leap forward with huge momentum.” ― Holly Near
“The more in harmony you are with the flow of your own existence, the more magical life becomes.” ― Adyashanti
“Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart.” ― Alan Alda
“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 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
“Wise men make more opportunities than they find.” ― Francis Bacon
“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
“The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct.” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Wisdom is found only in truth.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“A wise man will desire no more than what he may get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contently.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” ― Aristotle
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” ― Plato
“The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Close some doors today. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because they lead you nowhere.” ― Paulo Coelho
“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
“Statistics may be defined as ‘a body of methods for making wise decisions in the face of uncertainty’.” ― W. Allen Wallis
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” ― Epictetus
“It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.” ― Winston Churchill
“Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it.” ― David Starr Jordan
“Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.” ― Gautama Buddha
“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
“Back of every mistaken venture and defeat is the laughter of wisdom, if you listen.” ― Carl Sandburg
“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
“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
“The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.” ― Claude Levi-Strauss
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” ― Lao Tzu
“Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.” ― Doug Larson
“A little foolishness, enough to enjoy life, and a little wisdom to avoid the errors, that will do.” — Osho
“Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.” ― Aesop
“It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.” ― Henry David Thoreau
“Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Fools multiply when wise men are silent.” ― Nelson Mandela
“Innocence dwells with Wisdom, but never with ignorance.” ― William Blake
“True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” ― Socrates
“Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child.” ― Ron Wild
“True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” ― Socrates
“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
“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.” ― Alfred Lord Tennyson
“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.” ― Matsuo Basho
“When you’re used to being prepared to reject conventional wisdom, it leaves you open to learn more.” ― Mayim Bialik
“Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.” ― Juvenal
“The wise man does not grow old, but ripens.” ― Victor Hugo
“In youth and beauty, wisdom is but rare!” ― Homer
“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.” ― Paulo Coelho
“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.” ― Matsuo Basho
“Not by age but by capacity is wisdom acquired.” ― Plautus
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” ― Martin Luther King, Jr.
“A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“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 wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are perpetuated by quotations.” ― Benjamin Disraeli
“Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.” ― Francis of Assisi
“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.” ― Alfred Lord Tennyson
“A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.” ― Maya Angelou
