The wise are free from perplexities; the virtuous from anxiety; and the bold from fear
Our note: Three qualities, each paired with what it frees you from.
Verified in the full text of The Analects on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #3330
Quotes about wisdom
65 verified quotes from 38 writers, c. 475 BC to 1923.
Quotes 1 to 22 of 65, page 1 of 3.
These quotes are about judgement: how to read, what to trust, what lies within your power and what does not. Epictetus opens his handbook by dividing things into those in our power and those not; Francis Bacon tells readers to weigh and consider rather than contradict or believe.
Emerson warns against a foolish consistency, Chesterton defends tradition as giving votes to our ancestors, and the Cheshire Cat points out that which way you go depends on where you want to get to. Each line was matched in the full text of the public-domain edition we link, with a note of ours on its context.
What “verified” means, and what we leave out: How we verify.
Confucius, The Analects, c. 475 BCTranslated by James Legge (1861) …for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know.
Socrates, in Apology by Plato, c. 399 BCTranslated by Benjamin Jowett (1871) Our note: Socrates compares himself with a man thought to be wise.
Verified in the full text of Apology on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1656
…that the unexamined life is not worth living
Socrates, in Apology by Plato, c. 399 BCTranslated by Benjamin Jowett (1871) Our note: Socrates at his trial, explaining why he cannot stop questioning people.
Verified in the full text of Apology on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1656
…not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but first and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul
Socrates, in Apology by Plato, c. 399 BCTranslated by Benjamin Jowett (1871) Our note: What Socrates says he spent his life urging on his neighbours.
Verified in the full text of Apology on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1656
The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways—I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows
Socrates, in Apology by Plato, c. 399 BCTranslated by Benjamin Jowett (1871) Our note: Socrates' last words to the court.
Verified in the full text of Apology on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1656
Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things
Epictetus, The Encheiridion, c. AD 125Translated by George Long (1877) Our note: From the Stoic teacher's short handbook, written down by his student Arrian.
Verified in the full text of The Encheiridion on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #10661 · Collected in A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion
Of things some are in our power, and others are not.
Epictetus, The Encheiridion, c. AD 125Translated by George Long (1877) Our note: The first line of the handbook.
Verified in the full text of The Encheiridion on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #10661 · Collected in A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion
Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life
Epictetus, The Encheiridion, c. AD 125Translated by George Long (1877) Our note: The Encheiridion is a short handbook of Epictetus's teaching, put together by his student Arrian.
Verified in the full text of The Encheiridion on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #10661 · Collected in A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion
Remember that it is not he who reviles you or strikes you, who insults you, but it is your opinion about these things as being insulting
Epictetus, The Encheiridion, c. AD 125Translated by George Long (1877) Our note: One of the handbook's central ideas: it is our judgement of an event that hurts us.
Verified in the full text of The Encheiridion on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #10661 · Collected in A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion
…let silence be the general rule, or let only what is necessary be said, and in few words.
Epictetus, The Encheiridion, c. AD 125Translated by George Long (1877) Our note: Part of a longer passage of plain rules for everyday conduct.
Verified in the full text of The Encheiridion on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #10661 · Collected in A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion
If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, c. AD 180Translated by George Long (1862) Our note: Book VIII, a core Stoic idea: our view of events, not the events, is what hurts.
Verified in the full text of Meditations on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #15877 · Collected in The Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, c. AD 180Translated by George Long (1862) Our note: Book VII.
Verified in the full text of Meditations on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #15877 · Collected in The Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
A peaceable man doth more good than a well-learned.
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, c. AD 1427Translated by William Benham (1874) Our note: From the chapter on the good, peaceable man.
Verified in the full text of The Imitation of Christ on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1653
Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.
Francis Bacon, Of Studies, 1597 Our note: From "Of Studies."
Verified in the full text of Of Studies on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #575 · Collected in Essays
Painted the same decade: Portrait of a Man, Possibly an Architect or Geographer, Peter Paul Rubens, 1597
Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them
Francis Bacon, Of Studies, 1597 Our note: Bacon on three ways of treating books, and which one is worth copying.
Verified in the full text of Of Studies on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #575 · Collected in Essays
Painted the same decade: The Musicians, Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi), 1597
…there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.
Hamlet, in Hamlet by William Shakespeare, 1603 Our note: Hamlet to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, explaining why Denmark feels like a prison to him.
Verified in the full text of Hamlet on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #100 · Collected in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Painted the same decade: A Woodland Road with Travelers, Jan Brueghel the Elder, 1607
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice
Polonius, in Hamlet by William Shakespeare, 1603 Our note: More of Polonius's advice to Laertes.
Verified in the full text of Hamlet on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #100 · Collected in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Painted the same decade: A Woodland Road with Travelers, Jan Brueghel the Elder, 1607
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief.
Polonius, in Hamlet by William Shakespeare, 1603 Our note: Said by the famously long-winded Polonius, which is the joke.
Verified in the full text of Hamlet on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #100 · Collected in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Painted the same decade: Madonna and Child with Saints, Ludovico Carracci, 1607
It is a strange desire, to seek power and to lose liberty
Francis Bacon, Of Great Place, 1612 Our note: Bacon on the price of high office.
Verified in the full text of Of Great Place on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #575 · Collected in Essays
Painted the same decade: The Denial of Saint Peter, Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi), 1610
Love all, trust a few, Do wrong to none.
The Countess, in All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare, 1623 Our note: The Countess's blessing to her son Bertram as he leaves for court.
Verified in the full text of All's Well That Ends Well on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #100 · Collected in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Painted the same decade: A Musician and His Daughter, Thomas de Keyser, 1629
For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it
René Descartes, Discourse on the Method, 1637Translated by John Veitch (1850) Our note: From the first paragraph of the Discourse.
Verified in the full text of Discourse on the Method on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #59
Painted the same decade: Queen Henrietta Maria, Anthony van Dyck, 1636
Good sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed
René Descartes, Discourse on the Method, 1637Translated by John Veitch (1850) Our note: The opening sentence of the Discourse, a little tongue in cheek.
Verified in the full text of Discourse on the Method on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #59
Painted the same decade: Queen Henrietta Maria, Anthony van Dyck, 1636