Wise Quotes

It's bad taste to be wise all the time, like being at a perpetual funeral.

Sometimes one likes foolish people for their folly, better than wise people for their wisdom.

The fool wanders, a wise man travels.

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.

The way to get on in the world is to be neither more nor less wise, neither better nor worse than your neighbours.

But I think I have done right to save the vision in this way, even though I may die sooner because I did it; for I know the meaning of the vision is wise and beautiful and good; and you can see that I am only a pitiful old man after all.

Zeal is fit for wise men, but flourishes chiefly among fools.

The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.

Power will intoxicate the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads. No man is wise enough, nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power.

It is a wise man who said that there is no greater inequality than the equal treatment of unequals.

A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.

The hallway of every man's life is paced with pictures; pictures gay and pictures gloomy, all useful, for if we be wise, we can learn from them a richer and braver way to live.

Extreme nationalism and Bolshevism have broken up the old world, a new world is in the making. It is literally true that old things are passing away; all things may become new, granted we have wise, unselfish, and determined guides.

I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should seem a fool, but be wise.

We need to seek wise leaders who will seek common ground among Americans instead of dividing us further for political gain. As citizens, we must embrace those who embrace ideas, thoughtfulness, civility and kindness to others no matter what their political beliefs.

A wise unselfishness is not a surrender of yourself to the wishes of anyone, but only to the best discoverable course of action.

The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.

From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own.

A wise nation should cultivate a political spirit that allows opponents to cooperate without fearing an automatic execution from their core supporters. Who knew that the real rogues in American politics would be the ones who dare to get along?

Who is the wise man? He who sees what's going to be born.

Of all those arts in which the wise excel, Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.

A wise woman knows how to summon her courage and do what is right, rather than what is easy.

It's a wise thing to hold back.

Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.

He who would begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin.

The best books for a man are not always those which the wise recommend, but often those which meet the peculiar wants, the natural thirst of his mind, and therefore awaken interest and rivet thought.

The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.

Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise.

I'm not really wise. But I can be cranky.