Wisdom Quotes
525 quotes
Wisdom
Profound insights and timeless truths about life's mysteries
525 Quotes
A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a person perfected without trials
— On Providence
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd
— Letter to Frederick II of Prussia, 1767
The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places
— Book: 'A Farewell to Arms' (1929)
The highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion
— The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist (1998), lecture
The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today
— On the Shortness of Life
The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend
— The Creative Mind: An Introduction to Metaphysics (1934)
It is the same with men as with trees: the more they aspire to rise into the height and light, the more strongly their roots strive downwards into the dark, the deep—into evil
— Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Part II, ‘On the Tree on the Mountainside’
Knowledge, like the sky, is never private property
— Who Is Man? (1965)
The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free
— Ethics, Part V
You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd
— Letter to Betty Hester, August 1955 (Collected Letters)
If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it
— Fragment 18
Beware the barrenness of a busy life
— as cited in Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
The mountains are calling and I must go
— Letter to Sarah Muir Galloway, 1873
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so
— Hamlet, Act II, Scene II
To live without hope is to cease to live
— Demons (The Devils), Part II, Chapter 1
Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without
— Analects (Book IX, Chapter 28)
True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us
— As recorded by Plato, Apology (paraphrase of Socratic sentiment)
Nothing is too wonderful to be true if it be consistent with the laws of nature
— Letter to Ada Lovelace, May 6th, 1854
The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground
— Traditional Buddhist saying (Dhammapada, attributed)
Our life is what our thoughts make it
— Meditations, Book IV
The frog in the well knows nothing of the great ocean
— Zhuangzi, Book XVII
What we know is a drop, what we do not know is an ocean
— Reported by Joseph Spence, Anecdotes, 1728
The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance
— The Wisdom of Insecurity
Nothing that grieves us can be called little; by the eternal laws of proportion a child's loss of a doll and a king's loss of a crown are events of the same size
— Notebook, 1894
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe
— Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, Episode 1
He who knows others is clever; he who knows himself has discernment
— Tao Te Ching, Chapter 33
Ripeness is all
— King Lear, Act V, Scene II
Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone
— The Wisdom of Insecurity, 1951
It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it
— Pensées (collected posthumously 1838)
We acquire the strength we have overcome
— Essay: Compensation
When the mind is clear, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves
— Dhammapada
A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart
— Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting (essay)
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly
— The Conquest of Happiness, Chapter 2
No man was ever wise by chance
— Letters to Lucilius, Letter 76
The world is incomprehensible, but we have to try to comprehend it
— Notebooks 1951-1959
Words are but pictures of our thoughts
— An Essay of Dramatic Poesy
Our virtues are most frequently but vices in disguise
— Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665), Maxim 181
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how
— Twilight of the Idols
To be evenminded is the greatest virtue. Wisdom is to speak the truth and act in accordance with nature, while pursuing the things which are honorable
— Fragments, DK B112
It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable
— Letters from a Stoic, Letter XXVII
When you catch yourself slipping, smile and begin again
— Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong
— Prejudices: Second Series (1920)
The greatest way to live with honor is to be what we pretend to be
— . Recorded by later students such as Plato/Diogenes Laërtius
The fox when he cannot reach the grapes, says they are not ripe
— Fable: The Fox and the Grapes
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons
— The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (poem)
The stars are not afraid to appear like fireflies
— Stray Birds
The longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real
— Unsourced interview, widely attributed
We see but dimly through the mists and vapors; amid these earthly damps, what seems to us but sad, funeral tapers may be heaven’s distant lamps
— From The Golden Legend (1851)
The first step toward wisdom is calling things by their right names
— Analects, Book XIII
Not all those who wander are lost
— The Fellowship of the Ring, poem in Book I, Chapter 10
The mind is like a mirror; it gathers dust while it reflects. It needs wiping daily
— Stray Birds, 1916
Men argue, nature acts
— Philosophical Dictionary (1764)
No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible
— Unkempt Thoughts, 1962
Difficulty shows what men are
— Discourses, Book I, Chapter 24
The measure of a man is what he does with power
— Book III, Republic (context: Socrates speaking)
Sometimes life drags you in different directions, and that's when your compass needs calibrating
— Public talk, c. 1990 (paraphrased from interviews)
He who has a why can bear almost any how
— Book: Man's Search for Meaning, 1946
Even a tower a hundred yards tall has still no foundation if it lacks truth
— Zhuangzi, Outer Chapters
Every man I meet is in some way my superior, and in that I can learn from him
— Journal entry, ca. 1840s
He who fears he will suffer, already suffers because he fears
— Essais, Book I, Chapter XVII
Silence is so accurate
— Interview, 1958
The lantern does not illuminate itself, yet without its own flame, nothing around it would be seen
— Stray Birds
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge
— Interview, 1999 (variously published)
A cage went in search of a bird
— Parables and Paradoxes
It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring
— The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it
— On the Shortness of Life, Chapter I
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be
— Attributed by biographer Diogenes Laërtius
The fox condemns the trap, not himself
— The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Proverbs of Hell
Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous
— Analects, Book II, 15
A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle
— . From inspirational talks and writings
When you examine the heart of a mountain, you find the valley’s secret
— Sand and Foam (1926)
A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion
— Essays, 'Of Atheism'
A man only becomes wise when he begins to calculate the approximate depth of his ignorance
— Letter to Louise Colet, 1847
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe
— My First Summer in the Sierra (1911), memoir
There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy
— Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5
The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it
— From 'Nausea' (1938)
A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books
— Hyperion: A Romance, Book III, Chapter VII
He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men
— Lectures on Ethics
You can’t step into the same river twice, for other waters are continually flowing on
— Fragments (DK22B12)
He who learns must suffer, and even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God
— Agamemnon, lines 176-178
It is the mark of every excellent mind to do something excellent where the crowd sees nothing at all
— Parerga and Paralipomena
What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul
— The Spectator, No. 215 (1711)
To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge
— Analects, Book II, Chapter 17
If you shut your door to all errors, truth will be shut out
— Stray Birds
In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy
— Proverbs of Hell, 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'
Dreams are the seeds of change. Nothing ever grows without a seed, and nothing ever changes without a dream
— .
At times in life the impossible is only the untried
— Quoted in mountaineering essays and lectures
To live is to be slowly born
— Wind, Sand and Stars (Terre des hommes), 1939
The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it
— An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Every man has three characters: that which he exhibits, that which he really has, and that which he believes he has
— Les Guêpes, 1849
The limits of my language mean the limits of my world
— Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922)
Fools say they learn by experience; I prefer to profit by others’ experience
— .
To ask the proper question is half of knowing
— As cited in Diogenes Laërtius; traditional attribution
Every deep thinker is more afraid of being understood than of being misunderstood
— Beyond Good and Evil, Aphorism 152
Like a single day in spring, the growth of understanding is noticed only by those who tend their garden with patience
— Sand and Foam (1926)
Between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out
— The Nice and the Good (1968)
The grass does not try to be the bamboo, and the bamboo does not try to be the pine. Each grows as it is, according to its nature
— From his essays in Zen Buddhism (1934)
If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future
— Speech to the House of Commons, 1940
To light a candle is to cast a shadow
— A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)
I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think
— as reported by Plato, but phrase paraphrased from various secondary sources
One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things
— Book: 'Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch' (1957)
The wind extinguishes a candle and energizes fire
— Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (2012)
The greater part of the truth is always hidden, in regions out of the reach of cynicism
— Other Inquisitions
The more subtle and slow the mind moves, the more it perceives
— Ethics, Part V
I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore... whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me
— Quoted by Joseph Spence, Anecdotes, 1728
The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men
— Possibly from 'The Republic', dialogue context
To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience
— The Book of Her Life, Chapter 21
Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less
— Lecture at Vassar College, May 1921
To see things in the seed, that is genius
— Tao Te Ching, Chapter 64
What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality
— 'Moralia', On the Control of Anger
The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you
— Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (book)
He that has light within his own clear breast may sit in the centre, and enjoy bright day; but he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts benighted walks under the midday sun
— Paradise Lost, Book III
A fool flatters himself, a wise man flatters the fool
— Caxtoniana: A Series of Essays on Life, Literature, and Manners, Essay LXVII
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever
— 'Young India', 1925
To be uncertain is to be uncomfortable, but to be certain is to be ridiculous
— .
Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes
— Memories, Dreams, Reflections
To perceive is to suffer, and to have learned means one has suffered, but has found meaning
— Fragment, ascribed in various ancient sources
The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water
— New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (1933)
There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception
— The Doors of Perception (1954)
A clever mind solves a problem; a wise heart prevents it from arising
— Attributed, Collected Letters
The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master
— Speech at Kenyon College, 2005 (paraphrased from the address)
Every human being is the author of his own health or disease
— Traditional Buddhist teaching, Dhammapada (attributed)
The day I acquired the habit of consciously pronouncing the words 'I do not know,' I gained a new birth
— An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, 1927
In youth we learn; in age we understand
— Aphorisms (1880)
Every remedy, if it does not tend to cool, tends to heat
— Essays, Book II, Chapter 12
Life must be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards
— Journals, 1843
It is not length of life, but depth of life
— Essay: 'Experience' (1844)
The lantern of experience only illuminates the path behind you
— Aphorism, marginalia; cited in literary letters
Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him
— Themes and Variations (1950)
Suffering is a gift. In it is hidden mercy
— Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi
Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers
— Attributed to Voltaire, various correspondence and essays
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished
— Tao Te Ching, Chapter 64 (translated)
Whoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god
— Politics, Book I
We are too much accustomed to attribute to a single cause that which is the product of several, and the majority of our controversies come from that
— Meditations, Book XII
What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others
— Funeral Oration as recorded by Thucydides
It is not enough to have a good mind; it must be applied
— Discourse on the Method, Part I
In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play
— Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–1891)
On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom
— Essays, Book III, Chapter XIII
The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do
— as quoted in 'The Martyrdom of Galileo' by James Reston Jr.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool
— Commencement address, Caltech, 1974
Observe all men; thyself most
— Poor Richard's Almanack, 1749
The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones
— Attributed to Faulkner, though origin disputed; widely ascribed
A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul
— Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Book VII, Chapter IX
Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back
— Symposium
Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations
— Walden, "Economy" (1854)
Night does not speak, but its silence holds more counsel than a thousand voices at midday
— Men in Dark Times
The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it
— Meditations, Book IV
Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself
— Culture and Value
Only in quiet waters things mirror themselves undistorted; only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world
— Aphorism from published collections
To study the self is to forget the self; to forget the self is to be enlightened by all things
— Shobogenzo, Genjo Koan
Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is
— Man for Himself (1947)
All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare
— Ethics, V:42, Scholium
He that would govern others, first should be master of himself
— Play: The Bondman (1624)
The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long
— Attributed in Taoist tradition
Give instructions only to those people who seek knowledge after they have discovered their ignorance
— Analects (attributed)
The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper
— Attributed; source: 'The Saturday Evening Post', 1922
Time discovers truth
— Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium
What you seek is seeking you
— Poem in 'The Essential Rumi' (Coleman Barks, trans.)
Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought
— . Found in selected Bashō manuscripts
A fish is not thirsty in the ocean; just so, the wise are not anxious in the world
— Bijak (poem collection), approximate translation
He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak
— Essays, Book III, Chapter VIII
The spider’s web is the finest of all works of art, yet it is a cunning trap for the unwary
— Stray Birds (Poetry Collection)
A bird does not sing because it has an answer; it sings because it has a song
— Often attributed to Angelou, source uncertain
In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks
— Essay: 'Nature Writings' (various)
One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star
— Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Prologue, Section 5
The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding
— The Kybalion, Principle of Wisdom
It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment
— On Duties (De Officiis)
Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose—a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye
— Frankenstein, Chapter 4
He who wishes to paint a rose must first learn to walk through thorns
— Journals (Notebooks and Reflections)
He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words
— Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Mystics
Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous
— Reinhold Messner: Life and Death on the Edge (interview)
The wind does not break a tree that bends
— Zen sayings (traditional Japanese proverb, attributed in Zen literature)
We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book II
Among the crowd are many ears, but few minds
— Sententiae (Maxims)
The owl of Minerva takes flight only as the dusk begins to fall
— Preface to Philosophy of Right (1820)
The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness
— My Name Is Aram (1940)
He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own
— The Analects
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be
— Mother Night (1961)
The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking
— What Is Called Thinking? (1954)
Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time
— The Use of Life (1894)
If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against
— Hsin Hsin Ming (Verses on the Faith Mind)
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced
— As Much Truth As One Can Bear, The New York Times (1962)
The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken
— Thoughts on the Late Transactions Respecting Falkland's Islands (1771)
The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts
— Meditations, Book 5
To understand is to forgive oneself
— The Mandarins (1954)
To be independent of public opinion is the first formal condition of achieving anything great
— Philosophy of Right, Preface
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few
— Book: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1970)
We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are
— The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volume 1 (1931–1934)
What we call reason is but a pale cloud lit up by the brief flashes of the lightning of intuition
— Gravity and Grace (1947, published posthumously)
An unexamined idea is like an unlit lamp; it offers no guidance on a dark road
— Stray Birds
Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught
— The Critic as Artist
To attain knowledge, add things every day; to attain understanding, subtract things every day
— Tao Te Ching, Chapter 48
The secret of happiness is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less
— Attributed, via Socratic dialogues
He who would search for pearls must dive below
— All for Love (1677)
The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken
— Letter to Charles O'Conor, 9 July 1763
The needle is sharp because it does not boast of its sharpness
— Book: Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu), Chapter 4
By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest
— Analects (attributed), ancient saying
The mind is everything; what you think, you become
— Dhammapada (traditional Buddhist text)
A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer
— Bruce Lee: Artist of Life (book)
The sea drinks the streams that run to her, but the streams are never emptied; the lovers of wisdom crowd around her door, but she always has room for more
— Letters on Familiar Matters
It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment
— Letter to Farkas Bolyai (1808)
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response
— Man's Search for Meaning (1946)
Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem
— The Second Sin (1973)
Silence is sometimes the best answer
— Frequently cited in interviews and writings; attributed informal teaching
The sun is new each day
— Fragment 6 (Diels–Kranz numbering)
The wound is the place where the Light enters you
— Masnavi
To think is to live twice
— The Myth of Sisyphus
The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook
— The Principles of Psychology (1890)
I am but a gatherer and a user of other men's stuff, only a sorter and compiler
— Essays, Book I, Chapter XXIV
The mind is furnished with ideas by experience alone
— An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book II
To see far is one thing, going there is another
— Letter to Duchamp, 1927
The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself
— Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (TV series, Episode 1)
There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls
— Brain Droppings (1997)
He suffers more than necessary, who suffers before it is necessary
— Letters to Lucilius, Letter XIII
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be
— Recorded by Xenophon, Memorabilia, Book I, Chapter 2
The harmony of the soul and the body, the visible and the invisible, is the music of a life truly lived
— Enneads (precise passage uncertain)
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree
— Statement attributed; origin disputed but associated with Luther's worldview
Do not be wise in words—be wise in deeds
— /
The stone that is not in your way, will never teach you to walk around it
— Gravity and Grace
There are things which are so serious that you can only joke about them
— Quoted in Aage Petersen, ‘The Philosophy of Niels Bohr,’ Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 1963
When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger
— Enchiridion, Section 10
He who learns must be humble. He who wants to teach must learn even more
— Tao Te Ching (Chapter 64)
The tallest candle casts the longest shadow
— Stray Birds (collection of aphorisms)
It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
He who learns must be young, even if he be old. He who would teach must grow, even when he is growing old
— Letters, Vol. 1: 1906-1950
No human thing is of serious importance
— Theaetetus, 176B
Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems
— Discourses, Book II
Where there is great doubt, there will be great awakening; small doubt, small awakening; no doubt, no awakening
— Footprints in the Snow: The Autobiography of a Chinese Buddhist Monk
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading
— Tao Te Ching, Chapter 64
The mind of the sage is tranquil and undisturbed, like still water that reflects the moon and stars
— Zhuangzi, Book 2 – Discussion on Making All Things Equal
Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought
— Attributed, Japanese proverb commonly ascribed to Bashō
The greatest and most important problems of life are all fundamentally insoluble. They can never be solved but only outgrown
— The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche (1934)
It is not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters
— Enchiridion
The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper
— From his novel A Shadow Passes (1919)
An intelligent person aims at wise action, but a fool starts off in many directions
— Mishlei, Commentary on Proverbs
The only thing I know is that I know nothing, and I am no quite sure that I know that
— As quoted in Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, Book 2
I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends
— Attributed in various speeches and letters, 19th century correspondence
He knows the water best who has waded through it
— .
Not being heard is no reason for silence
— Les Misérables
What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life
— Living, Loving and Learning
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools
— Speech, St. Louis, March 22, 1964
The lantern flickers in the storm, yet its small flame reveals the path beneath tumultuous skies
— Sand and Foam
To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself
— Either/Or, 1843
He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying
— Thus Spoke Zarathustra
The sky is not less blue because the blind man does not see it
— /
The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues
— Meditations on First Philosophy
The more one judges, the less one loves
— Physiology of Marriage
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible
— Attributed, Summa Theologica context
He who looks outside dreams; he who looks inside awakes
— Collected Works, Volume 10
The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore?
— 365 Tao: Daily Meditations, Entry 129
A sense of humor is superior to any religion so far devised
— On Germany (De l'Allemagne), 1810
Pain and foolishness lead to great bliss and complete knowledge, for eternal wisdom does not dwell in hearts that are afraid of doubts
— Short Letter, Long Farewell (1972)
The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions
— Attributed (unpublished address, possibly 1858)
You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star
— Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Experience is the mother of illusion
— Scepticism and Animal Faith (book)
He who treads the path of love walks a thousand meters as if it were one
— Journals
The more one judges, the less one loves
— Père Goriot (1835), novel
He who is outside his door has the hardest part of his journey behind him
— .
No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell
— Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (1951)
A stumble may prevent a fall
— Gnomologia (book of proverbs), 1732
When anger rises, think of the consequences
— Analects, Book XII
The mind, once expanded by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions
— Lecture: 'The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table' (1858)
He that would live in peace and at ease, must not speak all he knows, nor judge all he sees
— Poor Richard’s Almanack (1736)
If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid
— Enchiridion, Section 13
To see a world in the eyes of another is to travel further than a thousand roads
— Gravity and Grace
Wonder is the beginning of wisdom
— As referenced by Plato in Theaetetus
The best revenge is not to be like your enemy
— Meditations, Book 6
Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems
— Discourse on the Method, Part Two
Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time
— Stand-up routine, various performances (attributed)
Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world
— Parerga and Paralipomena
It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change
— Notebooks, attributed summary of his work
The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing
— Letter to Frederick the Great, 1770
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way
— Letter to Revd Dr. Trusler, August 23, 1799
To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man
— Attributed, source debated
A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer
— Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975)
The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing
— Pensées (No. 277)
It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it
— Book: All Things Considered (Essay: "On Seriousness")
Climbing is necessary; rest is only a branch on the tree of ascent
— Sand and Foam (1926)
No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune
— Moralia, On the Fortune of the Romans
The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear
— Attributed, various poetic collections
The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude
— Essay: Self-Reliance
Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future
— A Woman of No Importance
Seek first to understand, then to be understood
— The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989)
To understand all is to forgive all
— Letter to Mme du Deffand, October 1766
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees
— The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (circa 1790)
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves
— Man's Search for Meaning
Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them
— Enchiridion, Section 5
He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior
— Analects (likely paraphrased from Book XII)
The path of excess leads to the palace of wisdom
— The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
There are no facts, only interpretations
— Notebooks, Summer 1886 – Spring 1887 (Nachlass)
The more one judges, the less one loves
— Physiologie du Mariage (1829)
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils
— Les Soirées de l’orchestre
It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows
— Discourses, Book II, Chapter 17
He who moves not forward, goes backward
— Collected Works, Volume 30, Sprüche in Prosa (Maxims and Reflections), 1829
The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine
— Possible Worlds and Other Essays (1927)
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how
— Twilight of the Idols, Maxims and Arrows, 12
I have spent my life judging the distance between American reality and the American dream
— Acceptance speech, SXSW Keynote Address (2012)
It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision which the nature of the subject admits, and not to seek exactness where only an approximation is possible
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book I
Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it
— Reaper Man (Discworld Series)
No road is long with good company
— /
A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us
— Letter to Oskar Pollak, 1904
The measure of intelligence is the ability to change
— Unknown, often attributed to Einstein's conversations
It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare
— Mark Twain’s Notebook, 1898
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
— Attributed; notebooks and writings on art and science
To lose yourself is the path to self-discovery
— From The Madman: His Parables and Poems (1918)
Each of us bears his own Hell
— Moral Sayings
The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength
— Meditations, Book 11, Section 18
The dream of reason produces monsters
— Etching, Los Caprichos, Plate 43
If you want to improve, you must be content to be thought foolish and stupid
— Discourses, Book 1, Chapter 18
The more I see, the less I know for sure
— Interview, 1966
At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet
— Symposium
To live alone one must be a beast or a god, says Aristotle. Leaving out the third case: one must be both—a philosopher
— Twilight of the Idols
He who learns but does not think is lost; he who thinks but does not learn is in great danger
— Analects, Book II
To attain knowledge, one must study; but to attain wisdom, one must observe
— Parade Magazine column, 1993
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there
— The Essential Rumi (Coleman Barks translation)
Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom gotten by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of the few; and number not voices, but weigh them
— Lectures on Ethics
Much learning does not teach understanding
— A fragment recorded by Diogenes Laertius
Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play
— As quoted in various ancient sources; original fragment lost
The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark
— A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal, 1782
To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking
— Unknown, collected quotes
The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself
— Essays, Book I, Chapter XXXIX
The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook
— The Principles of Psychology (1890)
The greatest blessing granted to mankind comes by way of madness, which is a divine gift
— Plato, Phaedrus, section 244a
Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for
— Letter to Menoeceus
He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to mouth
— Spruche in Prosa (Aphorisms in Prose)
A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds
— Homily on Psalm 1
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet
— Emile, or On Education (Book II)
When the shoe fits, the foot is forgotten; when the belt fits, the belly is forgotten
— Zhuangzi, Chapter 19
If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite
— The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes
— In Search of Lost Time (Vol. 5, The Prisoner)
No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness
— Problems, Book XXX.1
He who does not know how to live must make a virtue of dying
— The Myth of Sisyphus (1942)
Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives, and few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time
— Philosophical Dictionary
He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch
— Film: Pierrot le Fou (1965)
The important thing is not to stop questioning; curiosity has its own reason for existing
— Quoted in Life Magazine, 1955
A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence
— An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X
The sound of water says what I think
— Zhuangzi, Chapter 17
What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly
— Wisdom of the East (as quoted in cultural anthologies)
The sea refuses no river
— Speech in Edinburgh, 1867
The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried
— Doodle Alley (Online Blog and Comic)
The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting
— Meditations, Book 5.20
It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of truth
— An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), Book IV
The years teach much which the days never know
— Society and Solitude
The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness
— Essais, Book III, Chapter 12
What is uttered from the heart alone, will win the hearts of others to your own
— Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship
One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well
— A Room of One’s Own, Chapter 1
I am a forest, and a night of dark trees; but he who is not afraid of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses
— Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 'Of the Tree on the Hill'
The walls we build around us to keep out the sadness also keep out the joy
— Unknown; frequently cited in lectures and writings
We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves
— Letter to Thomas Settle, 1610
The wise man is one who, knows, what he does not know
— Attributed, classic Taoist sayings
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced
— Journals, 1843
The sage never tries to store up things; the more he does for others, the more he has
— Tao Te Ching, Chapter 81
In seeking truth you have to get both sides of a story
— Speech at Kansas State University (1991)
The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled
— On Listening to Lectures (Moralia)
Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know
— Tao Te Ching, Chapter 56
He that lives upon hope will die fasting
— Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758
The wise man bridges the gap by laying out the path by means of which he can get from where he is to where he wants to go
— Attributed saying (early 20th century)
He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how
— 'Twilight of the Idols', Maxims and Arrows, 12
He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe
— Meditations, Book VI
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity
— attributed statement, Einstein archives
He who limps is still walking
— Unkempt Thoughts
Much learning does not teach understanding
— Fragment 40, Diels–Kranz numbering
Wisdom comes to us when it can no longer do any good
— Love in the Time of Cholera (1985)
He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars; general Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer
— Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer
— Return to Tipasa (1952, essay)
The spider patiently weaves its web, not knowing which thread will catch the morning dew
— Stray Birds
He who learns must suffer, and even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart
— Agamemnon, line 177
He lifts the veil from the beauty, and shows the horror beneath
— The Conduct of Life, "Fate" (1860)
Prejudices are what fools use for reason
— Dictionnaire Philosophique
He who indulges in empty fears earns himself real fears
— Epistles, Letter XIII
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man
— Fragment 41, as collected in various pre-Socratic fragments
A mind stretched by new ideas never returns to its original dimensions
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man
— Rhetoric
He who wishes to be rich in a day will be hanged in a year
— Notebooks
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free
— Elective Affinities
The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk
— 'Philosophy of Right', Preface
Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power
— Tao Te Ching, Chapter 33
It is not enough to stare up the steps — we must step up the stairs
— Speech to the United States Congress, 1990
It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world
— Metaphysics, Book XII
The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom
— Prejudices: Second Series (1920)
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck
— The Dalai Lama's Book of Wisdom
To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead
— Marriage and Morals (1929)
The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long
— Tao Te Ching, Chapter 44 (commonly attributed, though precise chapter varies by translation)
The mind is not a vessel, but a fire to be kindled
— On Listening to Lectures
Nothing lowers the level of conversation more than raising the voice
— . (Aphorism, collected in contemporary quote anthologies)
He who knows how to find himself, knows how to lose himself
— On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1794)
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent
— Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Proposition 7
If the wind will not serve, take to the oars
— Ancient Roman proverb
If you wish to be a writer, write
— Diogenes Laertius, 'Lives of Eminent Philosophers', Book 7
You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose
— Speech at Golden Temple, Amritsar, 1978
He who has injured thee was either stronger or weaker than thee. If weaker, spare him; if stronger, spare thyself
— Letters to Lucilius, Letter LXXVII
When the bird and the book disagree, believe the bird
— Quoted in various letters, attributed in field notes
The gods too are fond of a joke
— Rhetoric, Book 3
Confusion is the welcome mat at the door of discovery
— An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)
When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you
— Tao Te Ching, Chapter 44
When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours. That’s relativity
— Anecdotal, as told to journalists explaining relativity
He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire life on one leg
Only the educated are free
— Discourses, Book II, Chapter 1
A prudent question is one-half of wisdom
— The Advancement of Learning (1605)
The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing
— Fragment 201 (as quoted by Isaiah Berlin)
He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies, real or imaginary
— Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Part III, 'On the Vision and the Riddle'
The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear
— Freedom from Fear, 1991
No one lights a lamp in order to hide it behind the door; the purpose of light is to create more light, to open people's eyes, to reveal the marvels around
— The Witch of Portobello
What is harder than rock, or softer than water? Yet soft water hollows out hard rock. Persevere
— Epistulae ex Ponto, Book 4, Letter 10
Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad
— Hyperion: A Romance
To attain knowledge, one must first observe; to attain understanding, one must first reflect
— from journal writings, 1840s
The waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of man
— Book of Job 14:19
There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart
— Hard Times (1854), Book I, Chapter XII
He who has imagination without learning has wings but no feet
— Pensées (Thoughts)
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation
— Often attributed, context debated, possibly from 'Republic'
A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it
— Stray Birds
What is to give light must endure burning
— Man's Search for Meaning
There are matters so delicate that you must not touch with too much probing; to do otherwise is to lose both the substance and the taste
— The Art of Worldly Wisdom, Aphorism 38
A library is the delivery room for the birth of ideas, a place where history comes to life
— Anatomy of an Illness (1979), book
I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong
— Attribution from interviews and writings
It is the mark of every excellent mind to do something excellent where the crowd sees nothing at all
— Parerga and Paralipomena, Volume 2
He who learns must be humble, and he who wants to teach must learn even more
— Address to Peking Teachers' College, c. 1955
We learn little from victory, much from defeat
— . Proverb collected in various Japanese sources
He who has been bitten by a snake fears a piece of rope
— Les Nourritures terrestres (Fruits of the Earth), 1897
He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter
— The Snow-Walkers (essay, 1886)
The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude
— On the Margin, Essay: Silence, Liberty and Peace
The snail climbs the Fuji mountain slowly, slowly reaching its summit
— Haiku, early 19th century
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge
— The Discoverers (1983)
The step between ecstatic vision and sinful frenzy is sometimes as small as a hair’s breadth
— The Brothers Karamazov
We are more often treacherous through weakness than through calculation
— Maxims, No. 81
Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world
— Parerga and Paralipomena, Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life
He who climbs to the peak does not despise those at the foot of the mountain
— Sand and Foam
The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook
— The Principles of Psychology (1890)
Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it
— Tao Te Ching, Chapter 78
The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house
— Essay: The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House, 1979
Silence is a friend who will never betray
— Analects, Chapter 1
A wise man hears one word and understands two
— .
The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis
— The Divine Comedy, Inferno, Canto III
A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for
— Salt from My Attic (1928)
You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself
— attributed (various letters)
The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts
— Meditations, Book V
The path is made by walking
— Proverbios y Cantares XXI, Campos de Castilla (1912)
The more I see, the more I realize how much remains invisible
— attributed remark, personal reflections
To understand nothing, you must first comprehend everything, and then let it go
— Sermons (paraphrased from his mystical writings)
The tree’s roots seek water in darkness long before the leaves kiss the sun
— The Bow and the Lyre
The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world's joy
— Life Thoughts (1858)
There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in
— Song: Anthem (1992)
I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think
— As related by Plato and Xenophon (general attribution)
The unexamined life is not worth living
— Dialogues of Plato, Apology
It is not enough to possess a good mind; it must be applied
— Discourse on the Method, Part I
It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable
— Letters to Lucilius, Letter 78
Wisdom begins in wonder
— Plato, Theaetetus
Experience is a lantern, though it does not light the way for those who follow
— Memoirs of Hadrian
The fire hidden in the flint does not appear until struck by the iron
— Ihya' Ulum al-Din
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough
— Stray Birds (1916), poem 47
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing
— As reported in Plato's Apology
If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself
— Book: Man’s Search for Himself (1953)
Even while they teach, men learn
— Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, Letter 7
He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying
— Thus Spoke Zarathustra
There are no mistakes, only lessons; growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation
— Who Will Cry When You Die?
Time is a created thing. To say 'I don’t have time' is like saying 'I don’t want to.'
— Attributed to Laozi, traditional sayings (not in Tao Te Ching)
The mind is like a parachute; it functions only when open
— Lecture, 1947, Harvard University
The river that forgets its source will dry up in the sun
— / traditional aphorism, not from a specific text
A room without books is like a body without a soul
— proverb attributed in various letters
The bird of paradise alights only upon the hand that does not grasp
— Essays and Aphorisms
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow
— Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks, Vol. 13 (1868–1876)
The greatest happiness is to know the source of unhappiness
— Notes from Underground (1864)
Night is the mother of thoughts
— Second Frutes (1591), Proverb 104
All knowledge is connected to all other knowledge. The fun is in making the connections
— Speech at educational conference (exact context uncertain)
The path up and down are one and the same
— Fragment 60
Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety
— The Republic, Book X
Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language
— Philosophical Investigations
It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences
— Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
Between living and dreaming there is a third thing. Guess it
— Proverbs and Songs, LXXXIV
The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool
— As You Like It, Act 5, Scene 1
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone
— Walden, Chapter II: Where I Lived, and What I Lived For
The tree that would grow to heaven must send its roots to hell
— Thus Spoke Zarathustra
All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone
— Pensées, Section VIII, 139
The highest form of hope is the one which is born of the knowledge that life is full of difficulties
— Tragic Sense of Life
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance
— Quoted in Diogenes Laërtius, 'Lives of the Eminent Philosophers', Book II
Every man has in himself a continent of undiscovered character. Happy is he who acts as the Columbus to his own soul
— Gold-Foil: Hammered from Popular Proverbs, Section X
The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities
— Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 1887
He who learns but does not think is lost; he who thinks but does not learn is in great danger
— Analects, Book II
A wise man is not governed by others, nor does he try to govern others; he wishes that reason alone shall rule, and that reason itself shall be free from all external hindrances
— Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, Chapter 20
Man is the measure of all things
No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible
— Unkempt Thoughts (Myśli nieuczesane)
It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors
— The Picture of Dorian Gray (Preface, 1890)
I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library
— Poema de los Dones (Poem of the Gifts)
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how
— Twilight of the Idols, Maxims and Arrows, 12
A jewel is not polished without rubbing, nor a man perfected without trials
— Letters to Lucilius, Letter LXXXV
Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is
— The Rebel (1951)
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be
— The Imitation of Christ, Book I, Chapter 16
The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists
— /
The greater part of our troubles are imaginary; let us not make them real by enduring them twice
— Letters to Lucilius, Letter XIII
It is the mark of a modest man to listen to others and learn from them
— Analects (Lunyu)
You do not chop off a branch that supports you
— /
The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me
— Sermons
Wisdom consists not so much in knowing what to do in the ultimate as knowing what to do next
— Speech at Stanford University, 1932
The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones
— Attributed, traditional saying associated with Confucius
The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common
— Nature (1836)
The universe is full of ghosts, not sheeted churchyard specters, but the invisible hosts of the past
— The Understanding of the Brain (1973)
The only way to deal with this life meaningfully is to find a way to stand in its ambiguity and to embrace it
— The Ethics of Ambiguity, Part I
The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled
— Moralia, On Listening to Lectures
Genuine mysteries give proof of their richness by the impossibility of exhausting them in any explanation
— The Mystery of Being, Volume 1
The owl is the wisest of all birds because the more it sees the less it talks
— /
No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it
— As cited in various interviews and later recollections
He who thinks great thoughts, often makes great errors
— Introduction to Metaphysics, 1935 (lecture)
The longest journey is the journey inward
— Markings (1963)
All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much
— Interview, 1969
A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring
— An Essay on Criticism, Part II
There are thoughts which are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the posture of the body, the soul is on its knees
— Les Misérables (1862)
I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book III
I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free
— Attributed, often referenced in art history texts
The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it; skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests
— Discourses, Book I, Chapter 24
The greatest happiness of the thinking man is in seeking the truth, not in possessing it
— On the Proof of the Spirit and of Power (Über den Beweis des Geistes und der Kraft), 1777
A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it
— Stray Birds (1916), aphorism 277
Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another
— Satires, Book XVI
Every solution breeds new problems
— The Logic of Scientific Discovery
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it
— Metaphysics
If I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you. But if I am I because you are you, and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you
— Oral teaching, Kotzker Hasidic tradition
He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger
— Analects, Book II
He who restrains his tongue preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin
— Proverbs 13:3 (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament)
He who binds himself to a joy does the winged life destroy; but he who kisses the joy as it flies lives in eternity’s sun-rise
— From the poem 'Eternity', 1803
The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists
— Traditional proverb
The wise man does at once what the fool does finally
— The Prince (1532)
To see a World in a Grain of Sand, And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour
— Auguries of Innocence
A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy, and nothing can stop him
— Cancer Ward (1968)
He who would search for pearls must dive below
— The Hind and the Panther
Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me
— Letter to Wilhelm Fliess, 1899
What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from
— Four Quartets: 'Little Gidding'