Wise quotes

Wise

5.1K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

5.1K quotes

Explore further

Browse quotes that often appear alongside wise — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.

Quote collection

Wise quotes (page 32 of 253)

Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.

C. S. Lewis Writer, Scholar
Wise

"There is something which unites magic and applied science (technology) while separating them from the "wisdom" of earlier ages. For the wise men of old, the cardinal problem of human life was how to conform the soul to objective reality, and the solution was wisdom, self-discipline , and virtue. For the modern, the cardinal problem is how to conform reality to the wishes of man, and the solution is a technique."

Read quote 15 likes

"It were as wise to cast a violet into a crucible that you might discover the formal principle of its color and odor, as seek to transfuse from one language into another the creations of a poet. The plant must spring again from its seed, or it will bear no flower -- and this is the burthen of the curse of Babel."

Read quote 15 likes
Abigail Adams First Lady, Advocate
Wise

"What is it that affectionate parents require of their Children; for all their care, anxiety, and toil on their accounts? Only that they would be wise and virtuous, Benevolent and kind."

Read quote 15 likes
Benjamin Franklin Inventor, Statesman, Author
Wise

"A wise man will desire no more than what he may get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contently."

Read quote 15 likes
Ralph Waldo Emerson Essayist, Philosopher, Poet
Wise

"I would have the studies elective. Scholarship is to be created not by compulsion, but by awakening a pure interest in knowledge. The wise instructor accomplishes this by opening to his pupils precisely the attractions the study has for himself. The marking is a system for schools, not for the college; for boys, not for men; and it is an ungracious work to put on a professor."

Read quote 15 likes
Samuel Johnson Lexicographer, Essayist, Critic
Wise

"Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes, And pause a while from learning to be wise. There mark what ills the scholar's life assail,- Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail."

Read quote 15 likes
Thomas Carlyle Essayist, Historian, Novelist
Wise

"Wise man was he who counselled that speculation should have free course, and look fearlessly towards all the thirty-two points of the compass, whithersoever and howsoever it listed."

Read quote 15 likes
Sophocles Playwright, Philosopher
Wise

"The kind of man who always thinks that he is right, that his opinions, his pronouncements, are the final word, when once exposed shows nothing there. But a wise man has much to learn without a loss of dignity."

Read quote 15 likes
Robert Louis Stevenson Author, Poet
Wise

"Loving God, help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men."

Read quote 15 likes
Niccolo Machiavelli Political Philosopher, Historian
Wise

"A wise man will see to it that his acts always seem voluntary and not done by compulsion, however much he may be compelled by necessity."

Read quote 15 likes