Wise Quotes

I will give you a definition of a proud man: he is a man who has neither vanity nor wisdom one filled with hatreds cannot be vain, neither can he be wise.

A smart man only believes half of what he hears, a wise man knows which half.

Whatever the immediate gains and losses, the dangers to our safety arising from political suppression are always greater than the dangers to the safety resulting from political freedom. Suppression is always foolish. Freedom is always wise.

It is by a wise economy of nature that those who suffer without change, and whom no one can help, become uninteresting. Yet so it may happen that those who need sympathy the most often attract it the least.

In quiet moments when you think about it, you recognize what is critically important in life and what isn't. Be wise and don't let good things crowd out those that are essential.

In marriage do thou be wise: prefer the person before money, virtue before beauty, the mind before the body; then thou hast a wife, a friend, a companion, a second self.

No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.

A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain.

Thinking well to be wise: planning well, wiser: doing well wisest and best of all.

He was a wise man who originated the idea of God.

Job's avoidance of rebellion against God has nothing to do with God being good or wise or anything like that; it's strictly because God is so powerful, and you don't fight something when you are so much weaker than that which you would fight.

We can learn much from wise words, little from wisecracks, and less from wise guys.

The wise become as the unwise in the enchanted chambers of Power, whose lamps make every face the same colour.

Government is an evil; it is only the thoughtlessness and vices of men that make it a necessary evil. When all men are good and wise, government will of itself decay.

It's easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.

There is no God, Nature sufficeth unto herself; in no wise hath she need of an author.

He that will write well in any tongue, must follow this counsel of Aristotle, to speak as the common people do, to think as wise men do: and so should every man understand him, and the judgment of wise men allow him.

I look forward to growing old and wise and audacious.

I want to state upfront, unequivocally and without doubt: I do not believe that any racial, ethnic or gender group has an advantage in sound judging. I do believe that every person has an equal opportunity to be a good and wise judge, regardless of their background or life experiences.

It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and say the opposite.

The wise make proverbs, and fools repeat them.

A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses.

That's what a man wants in a wife, mostly; he wants to make sure one fool tells him he's wise.

A wise man should so write (though in words understood by all men) that wise men only should be able to commend him.

A wise man fights to win, but he is twice a fool who has no plan for possible defeat.

Even a fool knows you can't touch the stars, but it won't keep the wise from trying.

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

Why grab possessions like thieves, or divide them like socialists when you can ignore them like wise men?

The ant is knowing and wise, but he doesn't know enough to take a vacation.

I wish I had the ability to crack wise, generally. You know, without getting punched. There's no way I could do it while getting beaten up. Definitely.