Top 621 Wisdom Quotes

Wisdom is knowledge worn smooth by experience. The quotes gathered here span centuries of philosophy, faith, and hard-won insight: distilled thoughts on how to think clearly, live deliberately, and see the world as it is.

There is no better way to learn than to teach.
Benjamin Whichcote
Benjamin Whichcote
Also featured in: change

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Be careful, think about the effect of what you say. Your words should be constructive, bring people together, not pull them apart.
Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba
Also featured in: friendship

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The average man can't prove most of the things that he chooses to speak of, and still won't research and find out the root of the truth that you seek of
James A. Michener
James A. Michener
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As long as we remember a person, they're not really gone. Their thoughts, their feelings, their memories, they become a part of us.
John Denver
John Denver
Also featured in: change

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I think puns are not just the lowest form of wit, but the lowest form of human behavior.
John Oliver
John Oliver
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Even the Stoic wise man, therefore, may tremble in the face of danger. What matters is what he does next. He exhibits courage and self-control precisely by accepting these feelings, rising above them, and asserting his capacity for reason.
Unknown
Unknown
Also featured in: mindset courage

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You keep learning all the time.
Vanessa Paradis
Vanessa Paradis
Also featured in: time

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People who are not intelligent or with the lowest IQ, always reason by insults, fight or violence.
De philosopher DJ Kyze
De philosopher DJ Kyze
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Sometimes when you're looking for an answer, you search everywhere else before you take a look at what's right in front of you.
Dean Hughes
Dean Hughes
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The past is never where you think you left it.
Katherine Anne Porter
Katherine Anne Porter
Also featured in: time

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The more important reason is that the research itself provides an important long-run perspective on the issues that we face on a day-to-day basis.
Ben Bernanke
Ben Bernanke
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We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.
Jonathan Gottschall
Jonathan Gottschall
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People think of education as something they can finish.
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
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You are very familiar with Western ways, but you are too young. You go everywhere to follow the big news, but the questions you ask are too simple - sometimes naive.
Mary Karr
Mary Karr
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In a growth mindset, challenges are exciting rather than threatening. So rather than thinking oh, I'm going to reveal my weaknesses, you say wow, here's a chance to grow.
Carol S Dweck
Carol S Dweck
Also featured in: mindset adversity change

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I'm a very bad student, but a great learner.
Tim Allen
Tim Allen
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With reasonable men, I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.
Unknown
Unknown
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It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It was always
my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight!
my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight!
Also featured in: wealth

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Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it gladly. Because there is no work, love, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave.
Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes
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Self-reflection becomes self-torment when learning doesn't occur.
Jaimey G. Duran
Jaimey G. Duran
Also featured in: mindset change

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Mathematics is an art of human understanding.
William Thurston
William Thurston
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In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - Orwell.
Arnie Kaufman
Arnie Kaufman
Also featured in: time

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You need to suspend your reaction when you feel like striking back, to listen when you feel like talking back, to ask questions when you feel like telling your opponent the answers, to bridge your differences when you feel like pushing for your way, and to educate when you feel like escalating. Breakthrough.
Unknown
Unknown
Also featured in: motivation

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Nothing in this world operates the way you think it does. Banks do not loan money, governments are not empowered to protect you, the police department is not there to serve you, institutions of higher learning, colleges and educational institutes are not there to educate you. The entire structure of the Western world is a combination of brilliantly put together and planned well-planned schemes to direct the minds of the people in such a way as to serve their masters.
James Bond
James Bond
Also featured in: life friendship wealth

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Remember the lessons of history - if we don't learn from history, we're bound to repeat it.
Tied Cruz
Tied Cruz
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You can if you think you can.
George Reeves
George Reeves
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Equanimity is a perfect, unshakable balance of mind.
Nyanyojivika Thera
Nyanyojivika Thera
Also featured in: mindfulness

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If you don't ask, the answer is always no.
Nora Roberts
Nora Roberts
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Sometimes questions are more important than answers.
Nancy Willard
Nancy Willard
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I think I'm proudest of making my parents proud.
Eric Dickerson
Eric Dickerson
Also featured in: family

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Confusing a targeted audience is one of the necessary ingredients for effective mind control.
Joost Meerloo
Joost Meerloo
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The truth can't hurt you, it's just like the dark. It scares you witless, but in time you see things clear and stark.
Eliza Costello
Eliza Costello
Also featured in: inspiration time

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I don't care what people think or say about me. I know who I am.
Jonathan Davis
Jonathan Davis
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I don't know how to save the world. I don't have the answers or The Answer. I hold no secret knowledge as to how to fix the mistakes of generations past and present. I only know that without compassion and respect for all of Earth's inhabitants, none of us will survive - nor will we deserve to.
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy
Also featured in: life adversity time

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A half truth, like half a brick, is always more forcible as an argument than a whole one. It carries better.
Stephen Leacock
Stephen Leacock
Also featured in: change

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Thoughts need words. Words need a voice.
Sharon M. Draper
Sharon M. Draper
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Everything happens for a reason.
Lauren St. John
Lauren St. John
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The essence of intelligence would seem to be in knowing when to think and act quickly, and knowing when to think and act slowly.
Robert Sternberg
Robert Sternberg
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Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals.
James Naismith
James Naismith
Also featured in: courage

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It's like you learn to swim by swimming. You learn courage by couraging.
Mary Daly
Mary Daly
Also featured in: courage

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And always, there was the magic of learning things.
Betty Smith
Betty Smith
Also featured in: inspiration

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As long as you are going to be thinking anyway, think big.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump
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Do not think your single vote does not matter much. The rain that refreshes the parched ground is made up of single drops.
Kate Sheppard
Kate Sheppard
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You never know what someone is dealing with behind closed doors. You only know what you see or what you think you see.
Mackenzie Phillips
Mackenzie Phillips
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Everyone is my teacher. Some I seek. Some I subconsciously attract. Often I learn simply by observing others. Some may be completely unaware that I'm learning from them, yet I bow deeply in gratitude.
Leo Alden
Leo Alden
Also featured in: gratitude

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What makes a decision great is not that it has a great outcome. A great decision is the result of a good process, and that process must include an attempt to accurately represent our own state of knowledge. That state of knowledge, in turn, is some variation of "I'm not sure.
Anne Duke
Anne Duke
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The bitterest truth is better than the sweetest lie.
Michael Stuhlbarg
Michael Stuhlbarg
Also featured in: change

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No one is thinking about you. They're thinking about themselves, just like you.
Helen Fielding
Helen Fielding
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