Quotes by theme

24 Quotes About Wisdom

Knowledge is knowing; wisdom is knowing what to do with the knowing. These quotes are the distilled remainder after the cleverness has burned off.

“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.”

— Robert Greene The 48 Laws of Power

“The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli The 48 Laws of Power

“He whose mind is undisturbed in sorrow, who craves no pleasure, and from whom attachment, fear, and anger have departed — he is called a sage of steady wisdom.”

— Krishna The Bhagavad Gita

“All the Gita is the divine speaking the divine wisdom into the human consciousness that is fit to receive it.”

— Sri Aurobindo The Bhagavad Gita

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

— Mahatma Gandhi Dharma

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

— Socrates Dharma

“Specific knowledge is found by pursuing your genuine curiosity and passion rather than whatever is hot right now.”

— Naval Ravikant Financial Freedom

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

— Benjamin Franklin Financial Freedom

“When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless.”

— Herophilus Longevity

“If you find yourself in a position of authority, be courteous. The mouth of a wise man counsels and ennobles.”

— Ptahhotep Maat

“Do not be proud of your knowledge. Take counsel with the ignorant as well as the wise. The limits of skill cannot be reached. No one is fully equipped with the skill at his fingertips.”

— Ptahhotep Maat

“We need to learn the slow yes and the quick no.”

— Tom Friel The Power of No

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

— Epictetus Stoicism

“As long as you live, keep learning how to live.”

— Seneca Stoicism

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

— Jalaluddin Rumi Sufism

“The small man builds cages for everyone he knows. While the sage, who has to duck his head when the moon is low, keeps dropping keys all night long for the beautiful, rowdy prisoners.”

— Hafiz of Shiraz Sufism

“The Seven Valleys of the soul are seven, and the journey through them is the work of a lifetime: Quest, Love, Knowledge, Independence, Unity, Bewilderment, Annihilation.”

— Fariduddin Attar Sufism

“The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand.”

— Hazrat Inayat Khan Sufism

“Knowing others is intelligence. Knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.”

— Lao Tzu The Tao

“To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, subtract things every day.”

— Lao Tzu The Tao

“The sage does not accumulate. The more he does for others, the more he has. The more he gives, the more he possesses.”

— Lao Tzu The Tao

“A clever mind is not a heart. Knowledge does not really care, wisdom does.”

— Benjamin Hoff The Tao

“When you understand the meaning of impermanence, all clinging falls away. When clinging falls away, the heart is light. When the heart is light, the mind is free.”

— Milarepa Tonglen

“The flower of perfect knowledge blooms in the gap where certainty ends.”

— D.T. Suzuki Wabi-Sabi