Wise quotes
5.1K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside wise — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"It is the ignorant person who seeks his or her own ends at the expense of the greater whole. It is the ignorant person, therefore, who is the selfish person. The truly wise person is never selfish."
"Suffering is part of our training program for becoming wise."
"Those who understand others are clever, those who understand themselves are wise."
"First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination."
"Instead of seeking new landscapes, develop new eyes."
"I reached in experience the nirvana which is unborn, unrivalled, secure from attachment, undecaying and unstained. This condition is indeed reached by me which is deep, difficult to see, difficult to understand, tranquil, excellent, beyond the reach of mere logic, subtle, and to be realized only by the wise."
"Man can climb to the highest summits, but he cannot dwell there long."
"There is nothing more beautiful in this world than a healthy, wise old man."
"Any fool can carry on, but a wise man knows how to shorten sail in time."
"Remember that other people may be totally wrong. But they don't think so. Don't condemn them. Any fool can do that. Try to understand them. Only wise, tolerant, exceptional people even try to do that."
"Interdependence is a fundamental law of nature. Even tiny insects survive by mutual cooperation based on innate recognition of their interconnectedness. It is because our own human existence is so dependent on the help of others that our need for love lies at the very foundation of our existence. Therefore we need a genuine sense of responsibility and a sincere concern for the welfare of others."
"Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man's task."
"It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them."
"As long as you can start, you are all right. The juice will come."
"Among mortals second thoughts are wisest."
"The good and the wise lead quiet lives."
"The only thing we can be certain of in this life is that we can be certain of nothing."
"I resolved to stop accumulating and begin the infinitely more serious and difficult task of wise distribution."
"A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees."
"The wise man does not grow old, but ripens."
