Searching for quotations about wisdom? Values of the Wise is a brilliant source for quotations about wisdom. The 25,000-quote database (free!) has many examples of words of wisdom from the greatest minds, and from all areas of the globe, and by diverse persons. If you want to learn more about values and wisdom, here are some inspiring examples by a very diverse group of writers, sages, heroes, leaders, poets, geniuses, and everyday folks to assist you in your search:
There is an incredible depth and breadth to wisdom, and it is reflected well in the huge database of quotations that is easily searched here:
…some of these wonderful words are educational: It is no longer enough to be smart — all the technological tools in the world add meaning and value only if they enhance our core values, the deepest part of our heart. Acquiring knowledge is no guarantee of practical, useful application. Wisdom implies a mature integration of appropriate knowledge, a seasoned ability to filter the inessential from the essential
The brighter you are, the more you have to learn.
Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches beyond their own understanding.
…they can also show a bit of caution or warning: There is nothing more dangerous than ignorance being practiced. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
If persons are going to be independent thinkers, they are probably going to pay a cost. One has to begin with the way the world works: the world does not reward honesty and independence, it rewards obedience and service. It’s a world of concentrated power, and those who have power are not going to reward people who question that power.
Just as rain breaks not through a well-thatched house, passion breaks not through a well-guarded mind.
…the right inspiring words can help us adjust and live well: It requires wisdom to accept exactly the right measure of responsibility for events that impact your life.
There is the difference between happiness and wisdom; he that thinks himself the happiest man really is so, but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.
Change is inevitable. It is wisdom that fosters development and progress.
The ultimate aim of the quest must be neither release nor ecstasy for oneself, but the wisdom and power to serve others.
Since [my mother] did not attend college, she looked to librarians as her magic carpet into serious intellectual life. Books contained powerful amulets that could lead to paths of certain wisdom. Novels taught her everything she needed to know about the mysteries and uncertainties of being human. She was sure that if she could find the right book, it would reveal what was necessary for her to become a woman of substance and parts.
… a few are wry or counterintuitive or perhaps even wrong! That’s the joy of separating opinion from information from knowledge from fact from wisdom: you have to figure it out yourself: An expert is a man who has stopped thinking – he knows.
Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned.
Most things break, including hearts. The lessons of life amount not to wisdom, but to scar tissue.
…some quotations about wisdom are helpful and prosocial and urgently-needed: When I was young, I fought aggressively. I was a warrior then. And now, I am becoming more aware of those essential things we men and women have to explore and that could really bring them together.
Wisdom is not withdrawal from society unless the values of society are so corrupting that it is impossible to preserve one’s soul. That is not the case of the materialism and self-aggrandizing values of contemporary America. A good life can be lived within these, tempering and placing them in perspective, rejecting their priority and excess.
The resource of generational history is accorded little attention in our society, which seems ever more obsessed with making ‘new’ and ‘better’ synonymous. From my family, I became aware of the importance of passing along wisdom from one generation to the next.
…others seem to transcend national boundaries and even time:
From listening comes wisdom, and from speaking: repentance.
Wise people have an inward sense of what is beautiful, and the highest wisdom is to trust this intuition and be guided by it. The answer to the last appeal of what is right lies within a person’s own breast. Trust thyself.
…all the quotations about wisdom in the collection are illuminating and remarkable. It took me 13 years to collect these, so enjoy!
Wisdom is not wisdom when it is derived from books alone.
If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow.
Re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency, not only in its words, but in the silent lines of its lips and face, and between the lashes of your eyes, and in every motion and joint of your body.
This is all about what values wise persons seek to cultivate within themselves. Wisdom is the queen of values and a highly-sought-after virtue. Read more quotations about wisdom in the Wisdom Archive here:
I also welcome you to visit The Wisdom Page to learn more about the topic, much of which is centered around wisdom quotes (but also features many articles).
At the bottom of this page is a radio interview I did on this topic.