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Wisdom: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
Wisdom of our ancestors.— BURKE — Thoughts on the Cause of the
Present Discontent. But these are foolish things to all the wise, And I love wisdom more than she loves me; My tendency is to philosophise On most things, from a tyrant to a tree; But still the spouseless virgin Knowledge flies, What are we? and whence come we? what shall be Our ultimate existence? What's our present? Are questions answerless, and yet incessant.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto VI. St. 63.
But they whom truth and wisdom lead Can gather honey from a weed.— COWPER — The Pine-Apple and Bee.
L, 35. It seems the part of wisdom.— COWPER — The Task. Bk. IV. L. 336.
Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.— COWPER — The Task. Bk. VI. L. 96.
Wisdom and goodness are twin-born, one heart Must hold both sisters, never seen apart.— COWPER — Expostulation. L. 634.
The bearings of this observation lays in the application on it.— DICKENS — Dombey and Son. Ch. XXIII.
DONNE-The Triple Fool. Man thinks Brutes have no wisdom, since they know not his: Can we divine their world?— GEORGE ELIOT — The Spanish Gypsy. Bk. II.
Wisdom makes but a slow defence against trouble, though at last a sure one.— GOLDSMITH — Vicar of Wakefield. Ch. XXI.
I'll tell the names and sayings and the places of their birth, Of the seven great ancient sages so renowned on Grecian earth, The Lindian Cleobulus said, "The mean was still the best"; The Spartan Chilo, "Know thyself," a heavenborn phrase confessed. Corinthian Periander taught "Our anger to command, " "Too much of nothing," Pittacus, from Mitylenes' strand; Athenian Solon this advised, "Look to the end of life," And Bias from Priene showed, "Bad men are the most rife"; Milesian Thales urged that "None should e'er a surety be"; Few were their words, but if you look, you'll much in little see. p. From the Greek. Author unknown. The heart is wiser than the intellect.— J. G. HOLLAND — Kathrina. Pt. II. St. 9.
Chiefs who no more in bloody fights engage, But, wise through time, and narrative with age, In summer-days like grasshoppers rejoice, A bloodless race, that send a feeble voice.— HOMER — Iliad. Bk. III. L. 199,
Pope's trans. For never, never, wicked man was wise.— S. HOMER — Odyssey. Bk. II. L. 320.
Pope's trans. How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise!— HOMER — Odyssey. Bk. XIII. L. 375.
Pope's trans In youth and beauty wisdom is but rare!— HOMER — Odyssey. Bk. VII. L. 379.
Pope's trans. Nothing can be truer than fairy wisdom. It is as true as sunbeams.— DOUGLAS JERROLD — Specimens of
Jerrold's Wit. Fairy Tales. Ripe in wisdom was he, but patient, and simple, and childlike.— LONGFELLOW — Evangeline. Pt. I. III. L. 11.
Be wise; Soar not too high to fall; but stoop to rise.— MASSINGER — Duke of Milan. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 45.
But to know That which before us lies in daily life, Is the prime wisdom. C.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. VIII. L. 192.
Socrates *** Whom, well inspir'd, the oracle pronounc'd Wisest of men.— MILTON — Paradise Regained. Bk. IV. L. 274.
Though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill Where no ill seems.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. III. L. 686.
The most manifest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness: her state is like that of things in the regions above the moon, always clear and serene.— MONTAIGNE — Essays. Bk. I. Ch. XXV.
When swelling buds their od' rous foliage shed, And gently harden into fruit, the wise Spare not the little offsprings, if they grow Redundant.— JOHN PHILIPS — Cider. Bk. I.
Tell (for you can) what is it to be wise? 'Tis but to know how little can be known, To see all other's faults, and feel our own.— POPE — Essay on Man. Ep. IV. L. 260.
Wouldst thou wisely, and with pleasure, Pass the days of life's short measure, From the slow one counsel take, But a tool of him ne'er make; Ne'er as friend the swift one know, Nor the constant one as foe.— SCHILLER — Proverbs of Confucius.
E. A. Bowring's trans. Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life-in a firmness of mind and mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do, as well as to talk; and to make our actions and words all of a color.— SENECA — Epistle XX.
Full oft we see Cold wisdom waiting on superfluous folly.— Shakespeare — All's Well That Ends Well. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 115.
Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.— Shakespeare — King Lear. Act I. Sc. 5. L. 48.
To that dauntless temper of his mind, He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour To act in safety.— Shakespeare — Macbeth. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 52.
Well, God give them wisdom that have it; and those that are fools, let them use their talents.— Shakespeare — Twelfth Night. Act I. Sc. 5. L. 14.
Wisdom and fortune combating together, If that the former dare but what it can, No chance may shake it.— Shakespeare — Antony and Cleopatra. Act III. Sc. 13. L. 79.
As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.— SOCRATES — Plato. Phædrus. Sec. 235.
The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.— SPURGEON — Gleanings among the
Sheaves. The First Lesson. By Wisdom wealth is won; But riches purchased wisdom yet for none.— BAYARD TAYLOR — The Wisdom of Ali.
"The Prophet's words were true; The mouth of Ali is the golden door Of Wisdom." When his friends to Ali bore These words, he smiled and said: "And should they ask The same until my dying day, the task Were easy; for the stream from Wisdom's well, Which God supplies, is inexhaustible."— BAYARD TAYLOR — The Wisdom of Ali.
S. Nor is he the wisest man who never proved himself a fool.— TENNYSON — Locksley Hall Sixty Years After. St. 124.
'Tis held that sorrow makes us wise.— TENNYSON — In Memoriam. Pt. CVIII.
Wisdom sits alone, Topmost in heaven:-she is its light-its God; And in the heart of man she sits as high- Though grovelling eyes forget her oftentimes, Seeing but this world's idols. The pure mind Sees her forever: and in youth we come Fill'd with her sainted ravishment, and kneel, Worshipping God through her sweet altar fires, And then is knowledge "good."— N. P. WILLIS — The Scholar of Thibet. Ben Khorat. Pt. II. L. 93.
And he is oft the wisest man Who is not wise at all.— WORDSWORTH — The Oak and the Broom.
Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop Than when we soar.— WORDSWORTH — The Excursion. Bk. III. L. 232.
Be wise with speed; A fool at forty is a fool indeed.— YOUNG — Love of Fame. Satire II. L. 281.
But wisdom, awful wisdom! which inspects, Discerns, compares, weighs, separates, infers, Seizes the right, and holds it to the last.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night VIII. L. 1,253.
On every thorn, delightful wisdom grows, In every rill a sweet instruction flows.— YOUNG — Love of Fame. Satire I. L. 249.
Teach me my days to number, and apply My trembling heart to wisdom.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night IX. L. 1,312.
Wisdom, though richer than Peruvian mines, And sweeter than the sweet ambrosial hive, What is she, but the means of happiness? That unobtain'd, than folly more a fool.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night II. L. 496.
Quis nam igitur liber? Sapiens qui sibi imperiosus. Who then is free? The wise man who can govern himself.— HORACE — Satiræ. II. 7. 83.
Sapere aude. Dare to be wise.— HORACE — Epistolæ. I. 2. 40.
Utiliumque sagax rerum et divina futuri. Sagacious in making useful discoveries. C.— HORACE — Ars Poetica. 218.
Victrix fortunæ sapientia. Wisdom is the conqueror of fortune.— JUVENAL — Satiræ. XIII. 20.
Quisquis plus justo non sapit, ille sapit. Whoever is not too wise is wise.— MARTIAL — Epigrammata. XIV.
10. 2. Feliciter sapit qui alieno periculo sapit. He gains wisdom in a happy way, who gains it by another's experience.— PLAUTUS — Mercator. IV. 7. 40.
Nemo solus satis sapit. No man is wise enough by himself.— PLAUTUS — Miles Gloriosus. III. 3. 12.
Nemo mortalium omnibus horis sapit. No one is wise at all times. PLINY the Elder-Historia Naturalis. VII. 41. 2. Melius in malis sapimus, secunda rectum auferunt. We become wiser by adversity; prosperity destroys our appreciation of the right.— SENECA — Epistolæ Ad Lucilium. XCIV.
Nulli sapere casu obtigit. No man was ever wise by chance.— SENECA — Epistolæ Ad Lucilium.
Ce n'est pas être sage D'être plus sage qu'il ne le faut. It is not wise to be wiser than is necessary.— QUINAULT — Armide.
Il est bon de frotter et limer notre cervelle contre celle d'autrui. It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.— MONTAIGNE — Essais. I. 24.
Il est plus aisé d'être sage pour les autres, que pour soi-même. It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maximes.
Qui aura esté une fois bien fol ne sera nulle aultre fois bien sage. He who has once been very foolish will at no other time be very wise.— MONTAIGNE — Essais. III. 6.
Die Weisheit ist nur in der Wahrheit. Wisdom is only found in truth.— GOETHE — Sprüche in Prosa. III.