"People do not naturally become morally excellent or practically wise. They become so, if at all, only as the result of lifelong personal and community effort."
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Wise quotes
Wise
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Wise quotes (page 34 of 253)
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"If forty million people say a foolish thing it does not become a wise one."
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"In nature's infinite book of secrecy A little I can read."
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"You create your own universe as you go along."
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"You can never be wise unless you love reading."
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"When, however, one reads of a witch being ducked, of a woman possessed by devils, of a wise woman selling herbs, or even a very remarkable man who had a mother, then I think we are on the track of a lost novelist, a suppressed poet. . . indeed, I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman."
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"Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool."
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"There is nothing the wise man does reluctantly."
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"Friendship of the wise is good; a wise enemy is better than a foolish friend."
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"Controversy equalizes fools and wise men in the same way - and the fools know it."
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"When people show you who they are ... believe them!"
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"Be happy, be happy; you shall have your red rose. I will build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with my own heart's-blood. All that I ask of you in return is that you will be a true lover, for Love is wiser than Philosophy, though she is wise, and mightier than Power, though he is mighty."
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"At times it is folly to hasten at other times, to delay. The wise do everything in its proper time."
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"Evil-doers who denounce the wise resemble a person who spits against the sky; the spittle will never reach the sky, but comes down on himself. Evil-doers again resemble a man who stirs the dust against the wind; the dust is never raised without doing him injury. Thus, the wise will never be hurt, but the curse is sure to destroy the evil-doers themselves."
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"But if you do not find an intelligent companion, a wise and well-behaved person going the same way as yourself, then go on your way alone, like a king abandoning a conquered kingdom, or like a great elephant in the deep forest."
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"Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true."
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"Be not penny-wise. Riches have wings. Sometimes they fly away of themselves, and sometimes they must be set flying to bring in more."
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"Folly pursues us at all periods of our lives. If someone seems wise it is only because his follies are proportionate to his age and fortune."
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"One is wise to cultivate the tree that bears fruit in our soul."
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"Compromise makes a good umbrella, but a poor roof; it is temporary expedient, often wise in party politics, almost sure to be unwise in statesmanship."
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