A library of wisdom
Quotes, every concept, every voice
622 hand-picked quotes from the world's wisdom traditions, each linked to its source concept. Filter by concept below, or scroll through the whole library.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
“When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace.”
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
“It always seems impossible until it is done.”
“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”
“Sawubona — I see you. The greeting that contains a whole philosophy.”
“Yebo, sawubona — yes, I see you too. The reply that completes the recognition.”
“In the African philosophy of Ubuntu, leadership is service. The leader is the servant of the people.”
“Western individualism asks: what is in it for me? Ubuntu asks: what does this mean for us?”
“The Indaba — the council of voices — is the way Ubuntu makes decisions. Nobody owns the truth. The room owns the truth.”
“I will not abandon Mother Nature. I will not abandon my people. I will not abandon the children of Africa.”
“You cannot enslave a mind that knows itself. That values itself. That understands itself.”
“It is the little things citizens do. That is what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees.”
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
“Each one, teach one.”
“When elephants fight, the grass suffers. When they make love, the grass also suffers.”
“The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.”
“A single bracelet does not jingle.”
“However long the night, the dawn will break.”
“No matter how full the river is, it still wants to grow.”
“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.”
“I am, because you are.”
“When the tea bowl is cracked, the crack is not a flaw to be hidden. It is the bowl's history, and the gold that mends it is the bowl's honour.”
“In the tearoom, the host sweeps and waters the path, but leaves a few fallen leaves where they lie. Even cleanliness must not be perfect.”
“Rikyu's son swept the garden until it was spotless. Rikyu shook a maple, and three leaves fell. "Now," he said, "it is clean."”
“Tea is naught but this: first you make the water boil, then infuse the tea. Then you drink it properly. That is all you need to know.”
“The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.”
“Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order.”
“The mistakes of beauty are dearer to us than the flawlessness of the machine.”
“We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.”