The seven wise men of Greece, so famous for their wisdom all the world over, acquired all that fame each of them by a single sentence consisting of two or three words.
The first part of anger is madness and the second is regret.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
The road to wisdom? — Well, it's plain and simple to express: Err and err and err again but less and less and less.
The Law by which this people is governed is at once the most ancient law in the world, the most perfect, and the only one which has been kept without interruption in a state. This is what Josephus excellently shows, against Apion, as does Philo the Jew in many places, where they point out that it is so ancient that the very name of _law_ was only known by the men of old more than a thousand years afterwards, so that Homer, who has treated the history of so many States, has not once used the word. And it is easy to judge of the perfection of the Law by simply reading it, for it plainly provides for all things with so great wisdom, equity and judgment, that the most ancient legislators, Greek and Roman, having had some glimpse of it, have borrowed from it their principal laws, as appears by those called Of the Twelve Tables, and by the other proofs given by Josephus.
If learning does not give wealth it will give esteem.
Even in evil, that dark cloud which hangs over the creation, we discern rays of light and hope; and gradually come to see in suffering and temptation proofs and instruments of the sublimest purposes of wisdom and love.--_Channing._
Try for yourselves what you can read in half-an-hour, ... and consider what treasures you might have laid by at the end of the year; and what happiness, fortitude and wisdom they would have given you during all the days of your life.
In the husband, wisdom; in the wife, gentleness.
Man can be thankful to God only so far as he does good to his fellow men.
He who says what he should not say, will have to hear what he would not like to hear.
Keep to your old friends--your new friends will not be so constant.
One sole plea I have--my need of Thee; But needing Thee my need is filled. One only resource I have--to stand and knock; And if unheard at Thy mercy-gate, to whom shall I go?
A man should be a tomb in which a secret is deposited.
A misfortune is one, but it becomes two to the impatient.
Be patient--every cloud dissipates, and every evil which does not continue is a small thing.
To know That which before us lies in daily life Is the prime wisdom.
For there is no virtue, the honour and credit for which procures a man more odium [from the elite] than that of justice; and this, because more than any other, it acquires a man power and authority among the common people. For they only honour the valiant and admire the wise, while in addition they also love just men, and put entire trust and confidence in them. They fear the bold man, and mistrust the clever man, and moreover think them rather beholding to their natural complexion, than to any goodness of their will, for these excellences; they look upon valour as a certain natural strength of the mind, and wisdom as a constitutional acuteness; whereas a man has it in his power to be just, if he have but the will to be so, and there injustice is thought the most dishonourable, because it is least excusable. [“Cato the Younger,” The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans , Translated by John Dryden and revised by Arthur Hugh Clough. (New York: Random House, Modern Library edition, p. 943).]
Blame not, nor boast, until a year and a half shall have passed away.
Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.
There is something irresistibly pleasing in the conversation of a fine woman; even though her tongue be silent, the eloquence of her eyes teach wisdom.
_Ma'an_ answers (in prose): Yes, I remember, and I have not forgotten it.
Contra verbosos noli contendere verbis; / Sermo datur cunctis, animi sapientia paucis=--Don't contend with words against wordy people; speech is given to all, wisdom to few.
A true man yearns towards his native country, and longs for his home as a lion longs for his lair.
There is no predicate in human language worthy of God, all we can say of Him is what the Upanishads said of Him, No, No! What does that mean? It meant that if God is called all-powerful, we have to say No, because whatever we comprehend by powerful is nothing compared with the power of God. If God is called all-wise, we have again to say No, because what we call wisdom cannot approach the wisdom of God. If God is called holy, again we have to say No, for what can our conception of holiness be compared with the holiness of God? This is what the thinkers of the Upanishads meant when they said that all we can say of God is No, No.
The wisest young men are they who follow the good example of the old, and the most foolish old men are they who follow the bad example of the young.
A pleasing manner is a great aid to success.
With all respect to Mr. Jefferson, I would put the pursuit of wisdom ahead of the pursuit of happiness. [ The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 1975.]
An nescis, quantilla prudentia mundus regatur= (_or_ =regatur orbis=)?--Do you not know with how very little wisdom the world is governed?
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?
If you are doubtful of a thing let it alone.
Voll Weisheit sind des Schicksals Fugungen=--Full of wisdom are the ordinations of Fate.
There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built bulwarks against it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city, yet no man remembered that same poor man.
Much of this world's wisdom is still acquired by necromancy--by consulting the oracular dead.
A hoary head is a rich cream churned by long years.
He who respects not himself can have no respect for others.
The girl who has many suitors, and makes no choice of one of them, is doomed to become an old maid.
A lion is a lion though his claws be clipped, and a dog is a dog though he wear a collar of gold.
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
By disappearing in the Land of Nature, you appear in the Land of Wisdom!
When a woman has had more than one husband in this life, she will, in the future state, be free to be the wife of him whose character she esteemed the most.
A man gets tired of having nothing to do, as he gets tired of work.
The mind profits by the wrecks of every passion, and we may measure our road to wisdom by the sorrows we have undergone.
_Arab_. Never shall I greet Ma'an as an emir should be greeted!
Avarice and ill-nature have no place in the heart of a good man.
Love of one's own country is a religious duty.
This dead of midnight is the noon of thought, And Wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars.
He who receives the strokes is not like him who counts them.
Many a grave embraces friend and foe, And grins in scorn at this most sorry show; A multitude of corses passed therein-- Alas! Time almost reaps e'er he doth sow!
Keep quiet until the occasion presents itself.
He who disregards his own honour gets no good from an honourable lineage.
What can a tirewoman do with an ugly face?
I shall not kiss a hand which deserves to be cut off.
~Novelty.~--The enormous influence of novelty--the way in which it quickens observation, sharpens sensation, and exalts sentiment--is not half enough taken note of by us, and is to me a very sorrowful matter. And yet, if we try to obtain perpetual change, change itself will become monotonous; and then we are reduced to that old despair, "If water chokes, what will you drink after it?" The two points of practical wisdom in the matter are, first, to be content with as little novelty as possible at a time; and secondly, to preserve, as as much possible, the sources of novelty.--_Ruskin._
The greatness of wisdom, which has no existence save in God, is invisible to the carnal and to men of understanding. These are three orders differing in kind.
Were wisdom given me with this reservation, that I should keep it shut up within myself and not impart it, I would spurn it.
Hoist up the sail while gale doth last--/ Tide and wind wait no man's pleasure! / Seek not time when time is past--/ Sober speed is wisdom's leisure!
Would Wisdom for herself be wooed, / And wake the foolish from his dream, / She must be glad as well as good, / And must not only be, but seem.
Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers, and I linger on the shore, And the individual withers, and the world is more and more.
Knowledge is a lamp from which men light their candles.
Ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.
A foolish man is like an old garment, which if you patch it in one place becomes rent in many other places.
A book is an eloquent, silent companion, or a speaking friend answering and questioning you.
Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.
What you are essentially advocating at Semco is harnessing the wisdom of people,” a friend once told me. “Their reservoir of talent, the natural wisdom of the system, the wisdom that only comes from freedom, the wisdom that emerges however unevenly from democracy. Wisdom is what you get by asking why….” I wish I had said that first, but I didn’t so I’ll second it.
Contentment is to refrain from coveting what others have.
An unguarded word may do you great harm.
I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.
The worst kind of recompense is to requite evil for good.
_Ma'an_. Greeting is an ordinance among Arabs in which you are free to take what form you like.
Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.
If miracles were wrought in bygone years, Why not to-day, why not to-day, O seers? This Leprous Age most needs a healing hand, Oh, why not heed his cries, and dry his tears?"
He who thinks well of others is a happy man.
Metaphysics, with which physics cannot dispense, is that wisdom of thought which was before all physics, lives with it, and will endure after it.= _Goethe._ [Greek: Mete diken dikases, prin amphoin mythou akouses]--Don't pronounce sentence till you have heard the story of both parties.
Knowledge is the treasure of the mind, but discretion is the key to it, without which it is useless. The practical part of wisdom is the best.
Gutta fortun? pr? dolio sapienti?=--A drop of good fortune rather than a cask of wisdom.
E meglio un buon amico che cento parente=--One true friend is better than a hundred relations. _It. Pr._ [Greek: he men gar sophia ouden theorei ex hon estai eudaimon anthropos]--Wisdom never contemplates what will make a happy man.
I sought in the great sea of theoretical learning a bottom on which to stand--and found nothing but one wave dashing me against another.
Great is wisdom; infinite is the value of wisdom. It cannot be exaggerated; it is the highest achievement of man.
To die in battle from a thousand cuts of the sword is easier than to die in bed.
_Traditions_. Learned men are trustees to whom God has confided mankind.
_Koran_. God forgiveth past sins; let men forgive and pardon. Forgive freely. Forgiving others is the nearest thing to piety.
The least of all noble traits is to keep a secret, and the greatest is to forget it.
No man can be sorry for seeking advice, or happy if he blindly follows out his own thoughts.
Note down in writing what you learn. All knowledge which is not committed to writing is lost.
Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens
God loves the man who is tender-hearted.
If you fear not the consequences of an evil life, and have no sense of shame, you are free to do what you will.
An expression of the face may be more eloquent than that of the tongue.
A man's talk shows what kind of mind he has.
Death is a cup which every man must drink, and the grave a door which every man must enter.
Selfishness, if but reasonably tempered with wisdom, is not such an evil trait.--_Ruffini._
Right is more beautiful than private affection, and is compatible with universal wisdom.
Beware of rashness, for it has well been called the Mother of Regrets.
Above a learned man there is one more learned.
Actions are judged by their endings. If you desire a thing, consider its end.
Everything has need of reason, and reason has need of experience.
Never tell your resolution beforehand.
Keep to the truth though it may harm thee, and keep away from falsehood though it may profit thee.
A man cannot be happy if he be malicious, envious, or ill-tempered.
He who despises a man of power; he who enters a house uninvited and unwelcomed; he who gives orders in a house not his own; he who takes a seat above his position; he who speaks to one who does not listen to him; he who intrudes on the conversation of others; he who seeks favours from the ungenerous; and he who expects love from his enemies.
The second he to whom life's sum Is self at ease; who never lets The past disturb with dark regrets, Nor hopes and fears from days to come.
Not every one who seeks shall find, nor every one who is indifferent be denied.
To know the mighty works of God, to comprehend His wisdom and majesty and power; to appreciate, in degree, the wonderful workings of His laws, surely all this must be a pleasing and acceptable mode of worship to the Most High, to whom ignorance cannot be more grateful than knowledge.
It’s easy to love a perfect God, unblemished and infallible that He is. What is far more difficult is to love fellow human beings with all their imperfections and defects. Remember, one can only know what one is capable of loving. There is no wisdom without love. Unless we learn to love God’s creation, we can neither truly love nor truly know God.
Leadership does not mean domination. The world is always well supplied with people who wish to rule and dominate others. The true leader is a different sort; he seeks effective activity which has a truly beneficient purpose. He inspires others to follow in his wake, and holding aloft the torch of wisdom, leads the way for society to realize its genuinely great aspirations.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Smoke is no less an evidence of fire than that a man's character is that of the character of his associates.
If a man professes to thank God and his wealth decreases, his thanksgiving must be vitiated by his neglect of the hungry and naked.
The Science of Language has taught us that there is order and wisdom in all languages, and even the most degraded jargons contain the ruins of former greatness and beauty. The Science of Religion, I hope, will produce a similar change in our views of barbarous forms of faith and worship.
When a man has attained his highest hope, let him expect that its downfall is near by.
She= (Wisdom) =is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
Satis eloquenti?, sapienti? parum=--Fine talk enough, but little wisdom.
Scientia qu? est remota a justitia, calliditas potius quam sapientia est appellanda=--Knowledge which is divorced from justice may be called cunning rather than wisdom.
When Fortune brings a great good, she follows it by a great evil.
The device of a man who hath no device is patience.
Good judgment means a seizure of opportunities.
Give tribute, but not oblation, to human wisdom.
He who does a kindly act shall be recompensed tenfold.
We are free today substantially, but the day will come when our Republic will be an impossibility. It will be an impossibility because wealth will be concentrated in the hands of a few. A Republic cannot stand upon bayonets, and when the day comes when the wealth of the nation will be in the hands of a few, then we must rely upon the wisdom of the best elements in the country to readjust the laws of the nations to the changed conditions.
It is just as allowable to blame a blind man for want of sight as to blame a fool for his folly.
Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.
This life is a sleep, the life to come is a wakening; the intermediate step between them is death, and our life here is a disturbed dream.
He who lives in a house of glass should not throw stones at people.
No evil is felt till it comes, and when it comes no counsel helps. Wisdom is always too early and too late.
Struggles bring the most unlikely things within reach.
I should esteem it the extreme of imprudence to prolong the precarious state of our national affairs, and to expose the union to the jeopardy of successive experiments, in the chimerical pursuit of a perfect plan. I never expect to see a perfect work from imperfect man. The result of the deliberations of all collective bodies must necessarily be a compound as well of the errors and prejudices, as of the good sense and wisdom of the individuals of whom they are composed.
When you do a kindness, make a small thing of it, though it be a great; and when you receive a kindness, make much of it, though it be small.
Restrain your tongue from saying anything but what is good.
God knows that we want rain and storm as much as sunshine, and He sends us both as seems best to His love and wisdom. When all breaks down He lifts us up. But when we feel quite crushed and forsaken and alone, we then feel the real presence of our truest Friend, who, whether by joys or sorrows, is always calling us to Him, and leading us to that true Home where we shall find Him, and in Him all we loved, with Him all we believed, and through Him all we hoped for and aspired to on earth. Our broken hearts are the truest earnest of everlasting life.
Teach your children poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom, and makes the heroic virtues hereditary.
In travelling you will find health and profit.
Three things are no disgrace to man--to serve his guest, to serve his horse, and to serve in his own house.
True greatness is sovereign wisdom. We are never deceived by our virtues.--_Lamartine._
Where Wisdom steers, wind cannot make you sink.
When God would punish a land, he deprives its rulers of wisdom.
The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.
O these deliberate fools, when they do choose / They have the wisdom by their wit to lose.
The world's a room of sickness, where each heart / Knows its own anguish and unrest! / The truest wisdom there, and noblest art, / Is his who skills of comfort best.
Vitam regit fortuna, non sapientia=--Fortune rules this life, and not wisdom.
To carry a heavy rock to the summit of a mountain is easier than to receive a kindness which is flaunted.
Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with genius it has not even a nodding acquaintance.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way — in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
What you put into the pot you will take out in the ladle.
A wise man neither deceives nor is deceived.
Contentment is a treasure which is inexhaustible.
When Abu-Bekr, "the righteous" (the first Khalif), was praised, he used to say: "O God, Thou knowest me better than I know myself, and I know myself better than they know me. Make me, I pray Thee, better than they suppose; forgive me what they know not, and lay not to my account what they say."
The best way to treat a fool is to shun him.
My son, take a middle course between stinginess and extravagance, parsimony and prodigality.
~Generosity.~--A friend to everybody is often a friend to nobody, or else in his simplicity he robs his family to help strangers, and becomes brother to a beggar. There is wisdom in generosity as in everything else.--_Spurgeon._
life in which you can be real, you need relationships in your life in which you can learn to risk, and you need relationships in your life in which you can learn to submit to the wisdom of others.
They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.
The most wicked of men is he who accepts no apology, covers no sin, and forgives no fault.
Envy is a disease which does more harm to the envious than to the envied.
Mind and experience are like water and earth co-operating--neither of which alone can bring forth a flower.
It is difficult for a man to know himself.
A noble man condones and pardons, and when by chance he finds out a sin, he conceals it.
When we invoke the soul we move from the realm of information to the more vital realm of wisdom, the attainment of which is the only true value of learning. [ The Wall Street Journal , May 25, 1975.]
None will break ranks, though nations trek from progress. Courage was mine, and I had mystery; Wisdom was mine, and I had mastery; To miss the march of this retreating world Into vain citadels that are not walled.
O Music! sphere-descended maid, Friend of Pleasure, Wisdom's aid!
_Ma'an_. The food is our own: we eat what we like and give others what we like.
La grande sagesse de l'homme consiste a connaitre ses folies=--It is in the knowledge of his follies that man shows his superior wisdom.
Some of his poetry has been put into English quatrains by Ameen F. Rihany, in imitation of Omar Khayyam's _Rubaiyat_, and the following, from the _Quatrains of Abu'l-Ala_, are a few striking examples:
You will hear every day the maxims of a low prudence. You will hear, that the first duty is to get land and money, place and name. "What is this Truth you seek? What is this Beauty?" men will ask, with derision. If, nevertheless, God have called any of you to explore truth and beauty, be bold, be firm, be true. When you shall say, "As others do, so will I. I renounce, I am sorry for it, my early visions; I must eat the good of the land, and let learning and romantic expectations go, until a more convenient season." — then dies the man in you; then once more perish the buds of art, and poetry, and science, as they have died already in a thousand thousand men. The hour of that choice is the crisis of your history; and see that you hold yourself fast by the intellect. … Bend to the persuasion which is flowing to you from every object in Nature, to be its tongue to the heart of man, and to show the besotted world how passing fair is wisdom.
He who thinks that Fortune will always favour him is a fool.
What can we call ours if God did not vouchsafe it to us from day to day? Yet it is so difficult to give oneself up entirely to Him, to trust everything to His Love and Wisdom. I thought I could say, 'Thy Will be done,' but I found I could not: my own will struggled against His Will. I prayed as we ought not to pray, and yet He heard me. It is so difficult not to grow very fond of this life and all its happiness, but the more we love it, the more we suffer, for we know we must lose it and it must all pass away.