Quotes about wisdom
10 passages from classic authors that speak of wisdom, for example by Plato, Confucius and Baruch Spinoza.
We kept the passages whose text touches on the theme, starting with those where it comes up most. Each is given word for word, with its author, its work and the reference of the passage. To browse an author’s quotes, follow the name.
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“That is because you are a philosopher, for philosophy begins in wonder.”
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“The wise find pleasure in water; the virtuous find pleasure in hills.”
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“A free man thinks of death least of all things; and his wisdom is a meditation not of death but of life.”
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“There isn’t much that tastes better than to receive praise from those who are themselves wise and capable.”
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“He has half the deed done, who has made a beginning. Boldly undertake the study of true wisdom: begin it forthwith.”
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“To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.”
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“The most manifest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness; her state is like that of things in the regions above the moon, always clear and serene.”
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“I hope I never ridicule what is wise or good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies, do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.”
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“Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search thereof when he is grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul.”
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“I possessed a well-balanced rather than a keen intellect, one prone to all kinds of good and wholesome study, but especially inclined to moral philosophy and the art of poetry.”